In Hesiod’s Theogony, Pandora was made from clay. The poem describes Zeus ordering Hephaestus to fashion a likeness of a modest maiden from earth, establishing her as a created figure rather than a naturally born goddess.
The clay detail connects Pandora with wider ancient creation imagery, in which gods or divine craftsmen shape living beings from earth. It also reinforces the contrast between Pandora’s earthly material and the divine gifts later attached to her by the Olympians.
Readers sometimes remember Pandora as being made from gold or marble because Greek myth frequently uses precious materials in descriptions of statues and divine objects. Hesiod’s account is different: the material is earth or clay, depending on the translation. The wording also varies because translators render the original Greek terms in slightly different ways.