Hesiod tells Pandora’s creation story in the poem Works and Days.
Works and Days is an archaic Greek poem traditionally attributed to Hesiod, who probably lived around the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. It combines advice about farming and justice with myths explaining why human life includes hardship and labor. Pandora’s arrival appears in this moral and economic framework.
In the poem, Zeus orders Pandora’s creation as part of a punishment directed at humanity after Prometheus’s theft of fire. The gods contribute different qualities to her, and she is sent to Epimetheus with a sealed container. When it is opened, troubles spread among humans, while hope remains inside.
Hesiod also discusses Pandora in the Theogony, although the accounts differ in detail and emphasis. The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” is based on later tradition; Hesiod describes a jar or storage vessel. Homer, another major archaic Greek poet, does not provide the canonical Pandora narrative found in Hesiod.