In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Prometheus is blamed for stealing fire for humans before Pandora appears.
Prometheus is a Titan associated with foresight and with aiding humanity. In Hesiod’s story, he deceives Zeus during a sacrifice and later takes fire for humans, concealing it in a stalk of fennel. Zeus responds by ordering the creation of Pandora as a punishment for humankind.
This sequence gives Pandora’s story its wider mythological context. Pandora is not an isolated character introduced without explanation; her arrival is linked to the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus over what humans should possess.
Later Greek and Roman writers expand Prometheus’s role, especially his connection with the creation of humans and his punishment on Mount Caucasus. Those later versions should not be confused with every detail in Hesiod’s earlier account. In Works and Days, the theft of fire is the immediate cause connected with Pandora’s creation.