Hesiod first described Pandora’s creation in detail in the Greek mythological tradition.
The story appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, an archaic Greek poem about justice, agriculture, labor, and human misfortune. Hesiod presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment after Prometheus stole fire for humanity.
Hesiod also refers to the creation of the first woman in the Theogony, although Works and Days gives the fuller narrative. Homer is a common mix-up because he is another major early Greek poet, but Pandora is not a central character in the Homeric epics.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” is a later transformation of Hesiod’s original vessel, which was a large storage jar. Hesiod’s account is therefore the principal ancient literary source for the myth’s best-known details.