In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Zeus ordered Pandora’s creation.
The command followed Prometheus’s theft of fire for humanity. Zeus wanted to punish both Prometheus and humans, so he instructed the gods to make a woman whose arrival would bring suffering. Pandora was not made by one deity alone: Hephaestus shaped her from earth, while other gods supplied qualities and gifts.
Hesiod presents Zeus as the authority directing the punishment. Hephaestus is the craftsman, but he is not the story’s commanding figure. Prometheus is the earlier transgressor, and his brother Epimetheus becomes important when he accepts Pandora despite Prometheus’s warning.
This division of roles explains a common mix-up. Several gods participate in Pandora’s creation, but Zeus initiates the plan. In the myth’s wider context, the episode explains why hardship exists among humans and links it to the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus.