In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Epimetheus receives Pandora despite his brother Prometheus’s warning.
Epimetheus is a Titan and the brother of Prometheus. Their names are traditionally connected with different kinds of thought: Prometheus suggests forethought, while Epimetheus suggests afterthought. This contrast shapes their roles in the Pandora story. Prometheus tells Epimetheus not to accept gifts from Zeus, but Epimetheus accepts Pandora when she arrives.
Pandora is not described in Hesiod as simply wandering into the human world. She is sent as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft of fire. Her marriage or union with Epimetheus places her within the human sphere and makes the subsequent opening of the jar part of the story of how suffering enters human life.
Modern summaries sometimes say that Pandora was “Prometheus’s wife.” That is incorrect for the standard Hesiodic account. Pandora is associated with Epimetheus, while Prometheus is the brother who provides the warning. The names are easy to confuse because both figures are Titans and brothers.