In Hesiod’s Works and Days, what did the evils do after Pandora lifted the lid of the jar?

In Hesiod’s Works and Days, the evils flew out and spread among humanity after Pandora lifted the jar’s lid.

Hesiod describes the jar as containing destructive forces that had previously been kept away from human beings. Once the lid is raised, these evils escape and become part of ordinary mortal life. Hope remains inside, making the ending more complex than a simple statement that every contents escaped.

The original account is not a catalogue of named diseases or sins. Later writers and artists expanded the contents into familiar ideas such as illness, war, toil, and suffering. Hesiod’s wording is broader, presenting evils as a collective presence in the human world.

The myth also explains a change in the human condition. Its narrative places the arrival of hardship after the conflict over fire, suggesting that suffering is tied to Zeus’s punishment. The popular phrase “opening Pandora’s box” preserves this basic idea: one action releases many consequences that cannot easily be recalled.