In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, which god fashions Pandora’s body?

In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, Hephaestus fashions Pandora’s body.

Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire, metalworking, craftsmanship, and smithing. Hesiod’s Theogony describes Zeus ordering him to shape a woman from earth as part of the punishment directed at humanity after Prometheus’s theft of fire. Other gods then contribute gifts and adornments.

This detail is easy to confuse with the later stages of Pandora’s story. Hephaestus creates her physical form, but he is not the god who gives her every quality, warns Epimetheus, or sends the container. Hermes, for example, is associated with giving Pandora speech and a deceptive character in Hesiod’s account.

The episode also connects Pandora’s creation with Greek ideas about divine craftsmanship. A crafted humanlike figure made from earth parallels other myths in which gods shape living beings. Hesiod’s version makes Pandora part of a larger explanation for why suffering, labor, and other troubles exist among humans.