In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Hermes gives Pandora a deceptive mind.
The passage describes Zeus ordering the gods to make Pandora as part of humanity’s punishment. Hephaestus shapes her, while other deities contribute appearance, clothing, ornaments, and abilities. Hermes supplies the troubling mental qualities associated with deception and a misleading character, then gives her the name Pandora.
This detail is separate from Hermes’s better-known role as messenger and guide. It is also distinct from the power of speech, which is commonly attributed to Hermes in the related Theogony passage. Readers sometimes merge the two poems, but the poems distribute Pandora’s attributes differently.
Hesiod’s portrayal reflects the social assumptions of archaic Greek poetry and is not a neutral description of women. Later artists and writers frequently transformed Pandora into a symbol of curiosity, beauty, danger, or human responsibility, sometimes leaving out the hostile gender politics of the original story.