In Hesiod’s Pandora story, Athena gives Pandora weaving skills.
In Works and Days, Pandora is fashioned under Zeus’s direction and receives qualities from several gods. Athena, the Olympian goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and crafts, teaches or equips Pandora with textile work. This detail places Pandora within the domestic and skilled-work ideals familiar to ancient Greek society.
Other gods contribute different attributes. Aphrodite gives her beauty and charm, while Hermes supplies a deceptive mind and a persuasive voice. The poem presents these gifts as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus steals fire, rather than as neutral blessings.
The story is sometimes simplified into a single act of creation by one god, but Hesiod describes a collaborative divine process. Pandora’s attributes also differ from modern retellings, which often focus only on curiosity and the opening of the container.