In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora’s human form is molded from clay. Hephaestus, the divine smith, shapes her body at Zeus’s command before the other gods contribute gifts.
The clay detail places Pandora within a wider ancient Mediterranean tradition in which gods or divine craftsmen form humans from earth or clay. It also makes her creation resemble the manufacture of a crafted object, emphasizing that she is deliberately constructed rather than naturally born.
Later retellings often describe Pandora simply as being created by the gods, leaving out the material. Other versions focus on Hephaestus’s craftsmanship or compare the episode with the creation of humans elsewhere in Greek mythology. Those summaries do not change the specific material named in Hesiod’s account.
Clay is also associated with Prometheus in later traditions about human creation, but Pandora’s molding is a separate episode. Her clay body, divine gifts, and assignment by Zeus form one connected mythic narrative.