In Hesiod’s Works and Days, what did Pandora do immediately before the container’s evils escaped?

In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora opened the lid immediately before the container’s evils escaped.

The ancient account does not describe Pandora smashing the vessel or throwing it onto the ground. Instead, she removes or lifts its covering, allowing the contents to fly out into the world. The action is brief, but it becomes the decisive moment in the myth’s explanation of human suffering.

The story says the evils had previously been kept within the container. Once released, they spread among humans, while hope remained inside after Pandora closed the lid again. Later paintings and popular stories sometimes turn the scene into a dramatic accident involving a broken box, but that is not the basic action in Hesiod.

This distinction matters because the original myth centers on opening and curiosity rather than destruction of the vessel. The familiar expression “to open Pandora’s box” preserves that central image and now means to begin a process that releases many unforeseen problems.