In Hesiod's Pandora myth, who was Pandora's husband?

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In Hesiod's Pandora myth, Pandora's husband was Epimetheus.

Epimetheus was the Titan associated with hindsight and was the brother of Prometheus. Prometheus warned him not to accept gifts from Zeus, but Epimetheus accepted Pandora, the first woman in the Greek creation story, as his wife.

The marriage connects two contrasting brothers: Prometheus represents foresight, while Epimetheus represents thinking after an event. Their names are built from Greek elements meaning roughly “forethought” and “afterthought.” This contrast helps explain why Epimetheus accepts a dangerous gift despite his brother's warning.

Pandora's story appears most fully in Hesiod's Works and Days, where her arrival follows Zeus's punishment of humanity after Prometheus's theft of fire. Later retellings often call the object Pandora opened a box, but Hesiod described a storage jar.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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