In Hesiod’s Theogony, Zeus sends Pandora to bring evil to humanity. The poem’s account is brief compared with the narrative in Works and Days, but it connects Pandora with the punishment imposed on humans after Prometheus’s theft of fire.
The Theogony describes Pandora as a beautiful woman and associates her arrival with a harmful gift. It does not provide the fully developed container episode familiar from later retellings. Works and Days supplies more detail about the vessel, Pandora’s marriage to Epimetheus, and the release of troubles.
“Evil” is a broad translation of the Greek concept in this passage. Translators may choose slightly different wording, such as misfortune or a plague, depending on context. The essential point is that Pandora’s arrival introduces a divinely sent burden into human existence.
This difference between Hesiod’s two poems is a common source of confusion. The same mythic figure appears in both, but neither poem alone matches every detail of the modern popular story.