Hesiod’s Works and Days contains the main ancient Greek story of Pandora’s vessel.
Works and Days is a didactic poem traditionally attributed to Hesiod, an early Greek poet generally dated to the eighth or seventh century BCE. Alongside advice about farming, justice, labor, and the proper organization of life, it includes the story of Pandora and the jar that releases human evils.
The poem presents Pandora’s creation as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft of fire. The narrative connects divine punishment with the human condition, explaining why suffering and toil exist while also preserving a remaining hope in the vessel. Its purpose is broader than storytelling: the myth supports the poem’s reflections on justice, work, and the difficult life of mortals.
The Iliad and Odyssey are Homeric epics, not the source of this particular Pandora episode. Hesiod’s Theogony discusses the genealogy and origins of the gods but does not provide the familiar full vessel-opening narrative found in Works and Days.