In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora is fashioned from earth before the gods adorn her.
The creation scene presents Hephaestus making Pandora from earth at Zeus’s command. The gods then add qualities and decorations: Athena teaches or clothes her, Aphrodite gives beauty, and Hermes supplies speech and a deceptive character in the traditional summary of the episode.
This construction differs from later ideas about Pandora being born in an ordinary biological way. She is an artificial, divinely made figure whose appearance and abilities are assembled through the work of several gods. Her earth origin also echoes the broader Greek mythic association between human bodies, clay, and the natural world.
The precise division of gifts varies between summaries because Hesiod’s two accounts are not identical in detail. Works and Days gives the fuller narrative, while Theogony presents a shorter creation account. Both connect Pandora with divine craftsmanship and Zeus’s punishment.