In Hesiod’s Pandora story, Hephaestus fashioned Pandora from earth at Zeus’s command.
Hephaestus was the Olympian god of fire, metalworking, crafts, and the forge. Zeus instructed him to make Pandora, and the divine craftsman shaped her from earth. This creation scene parallels other Greek myths in which skilled divine craftsmanship produces beings or objects with extraordinary power.
After Hephaestus formed Pandora, other gods contributed qualities or gifts. Athena taught her crafts, Aphrodite gave her beauty, and Hermes gave her a deceptive or persuasive character in Hesiod’s account. The combination explains the name Pandora, commonly interpreted as “all-gifted.”
Hermes is often selected as a wrong answer because he also plays an important role: he helps lead Pandora to Epimetheus and gives her speech in the ancient account. Athena and Aphrodite likewise contribute gifts, but Hephaestus is the god identified with physically making her from earth.