In Hesiod’s Works and Days, what does Pandora become in Greek myth?

In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora becomes the first woman in Greek myth. Hesiod describes her creation as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus gave humans fire.

The gods fashion Pandora and equip her with various gifts before she is sent to the human world. Her arrival introduces a new condition for humankind: suffering and hardship spread after she opens the container holding the troubles of the world. Hesiod’s account presents this as a mythic explanation for why human life contains both labor and misery.

Pandora is sometimes called the first woman in all Greek mythology, but that wording should be treated as a summary of Hesiod’s version rather than a universal claim about every Greek tradition. Earlier or neighboring myths can contain different female figures. Hesiod’s Pandora is specifically important because she links the origin of women, marriage, and human troubles in his poetry.