In Hesiod’s Theogony, Pandora is described as the first woman.
Hesiod’s account presents Pandora as a divinely made woman fashioned from earth on Zeus’s instructions. The gods provide her with beauty, clothing, and other attributes, making her a constructed figure rather than a person born through an ordinary human lineage.
Theogony and Works and Days offer related but not identical presentations. Theogony emphasizes the creation of woman and the consequences of marriage, while Works and Days gives the fuller narrative of Pandora’s container and the release of troubles. Reading both poems helps explain why modern summaries sometimes combine details from separate passages.
Pandora is therefore not simply an ancient equivalent of a generic female character. In Hesiod’s mythology, her creation marks a major change in human life and is tied to work, reproduction, and suffering. Later traditions frequently recast her as curious or blameworthy, but those emphases are developments of a much broader ancient story.