In Hesiod’s account, Prometheus’s theft of fire led Zeus to create Pandora.
Prometheus was a Titan associated with forethought and with helping humanity. Hesiod presents him as deceiving Zeus during a sacrifice and later stealing fire for humans, an act that gives people a powerful advantage but provokes Zeus’s punishment.
Zeus responds by arranging the creation of Pandora, who is sent to Prometheus’s brother Epimetheus. The myth therefore connects the arrival of Pandora with the gift of fire rather than treating the jar story as an isolated episode.
Later writers, especially Aeschylus, developed Prometheus into a more openly heroic champion of humankind. Hesiod’s account is harsher: Prometheus’s actions challenge Zeus’s authority, and Pandora forms part of the divine retaliation. These different portrayals explain why Prometheus can appear both as a trickster and as a benefactor.