In Hesiod’s Theogony, Hephaestus formed Pandora from earth.
The creation scene presents Pandora as a figure fashioned by divine craftsmanship rather than born through ordinary human reproduction. Zeus commands Hephaestus to make her, and the smithing god shapes her body from earth. The material connects the story with a broader ancient pattern in which gods form humans or humanlike beings from earthly substances.
The detail is sometimes paraphrased as “clay,” because clay is earth shaped with water and is familiar from other creation myths. Hesiod’s wording, however, is generally translated as earth or soil. “Gold” and “bronze” belong to other important Greek mythic images, including the successive ages of humanity in Works and Days, but they are not Pandora’s material in this passage.
Pandora’s creation then continues through gifts from other gods. Athena provides instruction or adornment, Hermes supplies speech and deceit, and the assembled deities contribute qualities that give her name its meaning. The myth combines a crafted body with a socially dangerous collection of divine attributes.