In Hesiod’s story of Pandora, Hermes gave her a deceitful nature and shameless mind.
The detail appears in Works and Days, where Pandora is assembled through contributions from several gods. Hermes, the Olympian messenger, is associated here not merely with travel and communication but also with cunning, persuasion, and trickery. Hesiod describes him as placing a deceitful character and a shameless mind in Pandora.
This role is distinct from Hephaestus’s. Hephaestus fashions Pandora’s body, while Hermes contributes a mental and moral quality. Other gods provide clothing, ornaments, and attractiveness, creating a composite figure whose qualities serve Zeus’s punishment.
Modern retellings often simplify the myth by saying that every god gave Pandora a gift, without identifying each contribution. The ancient account is more specific, and Hermes’s contribution is one reason Pandora is associated in later interpretations with deception and dangerous curiosity.