In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, Hephaestus fashioned Pandora from earth at Zeus’s command. In Works and Days, Zeus orders the god of fire and metalworking to create a woman as part of a punishment aimed at humanity after Prometheus’s theft of fire.
Hephaestus shapes Pandora, while other gods contribute qualities, clothing, ornaments, and abilities. The story presents her creation as a coordinated divine project rather than the work of one deity alone. This detail is sometimes confused with Prometheus, who fashioned humans in later traditions, or with Athena, who helped clothe and instruct Pandora.
Hesiod’s account is one of the earliest surviving Greek literary treatments of Pandora. The episode belongs to a wider explanation of why toil, sickness, and other troubles affect human life. Later retellings often simplify the myth, calling Pandora “the first woman” without identifying Hephaestus’s particular role in making her body.