In Hesiod’s Theogony, what phrase describes Pandora’s creation?

In Hesiod’s Theogony, Pandora’s creation is described as a “beautiful evil.” The phrase captures the myth’s contrast between her attractive appearance and the suffering associated with her arrival among humans.

The Theogony gives a shorter version of Pandora’s story than Works and Days. It links her appearance to Zeus’s response to Prometheus and describes the woman as a dangerous gift for humanity. The wording is notable because it treats beauty and harm as deliberately combined.

Translations vary slightly. English editions may render the expression as “a beautiful evil,” “a lovely evil,” or a closely related phrase, but “beautiful evil” is the standard concise form used for the passage.

Pandora is not simply described as evil in every detail of the myth. Hesiod’s language instead presents her as an attractive creation whose consequences are destructive, an idea that helped shape later interpretations of deceptive or dangerous gifts.