In Hesiod’s Pandora story, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create the first woman.
Works and Days places the creation of Pandora within Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus gave humans fire. Zeus commands Hephaestus, the divine craftsman, to form a woman from earth and water. Other gods then contribute attributes, skills, or adornments, creating the figure later known as Pandora.
This division of roles is often blurred in simplified retellings. Hephaestus performs the crafting, but Zeus initiates the plan and controls the wider sequence of events. Pandora is also not simply an independent invention by Hephaestus; her creation is part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus.
Hesiod’s version reflects a strongly patriarchal ancient Greek worldview and presents Pandora as a source of hardship for men. Later authors, artists, and modern adaptations frequently soften, revise, or reverse that characterization, but Zeus’s commanding role is clear in the classical literary account.