In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora’s body was fashioned from clay by the god Hephaestus.
Hesiod presents Pandora as a woman made at the command of Zeus after Prometheus’s theft of fire. Hephaestus, the divine smith, shapes her from earth or clay, giving the creation a crafted, artificial quality. Other gods then contribute gifts or attributes, which is reflected in the name Pandora, commonly understood as “all-gifted.”
The account is not identical to later artistic or popular versions. Hesiod’s narrative emphasizes divine construction and the consequences of releasing evils, rather than presenting Pandora simply as an ordinary human woman. The material is also sometimes rendered as earth in English translations, but clay is the standard concise answer to the question of what Hephaestus molded.
Pandora’s creation should not be confused with the creation of Athena, who emerges from Zeus’s head, or with later creation myths from other cultures.