In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, Hermes gives Pandora her voice.
Hesiod describes Pandora’s creation as a collaborative act by the Olympian gods. He says that Zeus ordered the gods to make a beautiful woman, and each deity contributed a gift or characteristic. Hephaestus shaped her from earth, while Athena taught her crafts and dressed her. Aphrodite gave her attractiveness, and the Graces and Horae added adornment.
Hermes contributes a more ambiguous set of qualities. In Hesiod’s Works and Days, he gives Pandora a shameless mind and a deceitful character, then places speech in her. Some modern summaries simplify this into “Hermes gave her speech” or “a voice,” which is why the detail is often linked specifically with him.
This episode is different from later retellings that treat Pandora as simply the first woman. Hesiod’s account presents her creation as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus stole fire. The gods’ individual gifts therefore carry symbolic and narrative roles rather than forming a neutral biography.