Hesiod’s Works and Days gives the fullest surviving account of Pandora’s creation.
The poem describes Pandora’s making, the gifts supplied by different gods, and her arrival as part of Zeus’s punishment for humanity. It also explains how opening her container released troubles into the world. This account is the main ancient literary source behind the modern expression “Pandora’s box.”
Hesiod also mentions Pandora in the Theogony, but that poem contains a shorter and less detailed reference. The Works and Days passage is therefore the standard source cited when discussing the complete creation episode, including the gods’ contributions and Pandora’s relationship to Epimetheus.
Works and Days is not a narrative epic like the Iliad or the Odyssey. It is a didactic poem containing advice about farming, justice, work, religious practice, and human life. The Pandora episode appears within Hesiod’s explanation of why suffering exists in the human condition, making it part of a wider argument about labor and divine justice.