In Hesiod’s Works and Days, evils escaped from Pandora’s jar. The poem presents the vessel as holding destructive afflictions that had previously been kept away from human life. When Pandora opened it, these evils flew out and spread among humanity.
Hesiod’s account is part of a broader explanation of why human beings must endure suffering and labor. The story follows Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus gave people fire. Pandora is fashioned as a divinely created woman whose arrival brings a new burden to the human world.
Modern retellings often reduce the contents to a list of abstract ideas such as disease, war, and greed. Hesiod’s wording is broader: he describes countless evils moving among people. The poem also says that hope remained within the vessel, though scholars have long debated whether hope is presented as a comfort, a trapped blessing, or something more ambiguous.