Zeus is chiefly responsible for sending Pandora as punishment in Hesiod’s Pandora story.
In Works and Days, Zeus responds to Prometheus’s theft of fire by arranging a punishment for humanity. He orders the gods to create a woman, later identified as Pandora, and sends her to Epimetheus. The story presents Pandora’s arrival as part of Zeus’s wider retaliation rather than as an independent act of curiosity.
Zeus is the chief deity of the Greek pantheon and is associated with the sky, thunder, kingship, law, and authority. His role in the Pandora myth reflects his position as the ruler who controls the distribution of divine gifts and punishments.
Popular versions sometimes portray Pandora as solely responsible for the world’s troubles because she opens the container. Hesiod’s account gives more weight to the divine plan behind her creation and arrival. Pandora is made by the gods, while Zeus initiates the punishment. This distinction matters when comparing the ancient story with later moralized retellings.