In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Hephaestus fashioned Pandora’s body from earth. Zeus ordered the divine craftsman to create a woman as part of his punishment of humanity after Prometheus stole fire for mortals.
The poem describes Hephaestus shaping Pandora from earth and giving her a human form. Other gods then supplied qualities or skills: Athena taught her craft, Aphrodite gave her beauty, and Hermes gave her a deceptive or crafty character. Zeus named her Pandora and sent her to Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother.
Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire, metalworking, and craftsmanship. In Roman mythology he corresponds to Vulcan. The myth therefore presents Pandora as a deliberately constructed figure rather than a naturally born mortal. Later retellings often compress the story and mention only a single creator, but Hesiod’s account distributes her attributes among several gods. The container itself was not made by Hephaestus in the surviving text; its contents and opening are part of the later Pandora tradition.