In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Zeus orders Hephaestus to fashion Pandora. Hephaestus, the divine smith and craftsman, shapes her from earth as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus steals fire.
The episode appears in Hesiod’s account of the origins of women and human suffering. Zeus instructs Hephaestus to make a figure resembling a modest young woman, after which other gods add qualities and adornments. This sequence makes Pandora a collaborative divine creation, although Hephaestus performs the central act of fashioning her body.
Later summaries often say that Hephaestus “created the first woman,” but Hesiod’s story is more specific: Zeus commands the work, Hephaestus fashions the figure, and several gods contribute gifts. Those roles are easy to blend together when the myth is retold in modern books.
Hephaestus is especially appropriate for the task because Greek mythology associates him with metalwork, tools, armor, and the making of remarkable objects for the gods.