In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Prometheus is punished before Pandora’s creation for stealing fire for humanity.
Prometheus is a Titan associated with forethought and with the protection of humankind. Hesiod presents him as an opponent of Zeus in a sequence of myths explaining why humans must endure labor and suffering. After Prometheus deceives Zeus in a sacrifice and later takes fire for mortals, Zeus responds by arranging the creation of Pandora.
Pandora is therefore not an isolated character in the poem. Her arrival is part of Zeus’s punishment for Prometheus and for humanity, which received a powerful gift without divine permission. In later Greek and Roman traditions, Prometheus’s punishment is often shown as an eagle repeatedly eating his liver, although details vary among sources.
The Pandora story and the Prometheus story are sometimes separated in modern culture. In Hesiod, however, they are closely connected: the theft of fire supplies the myth’s cause, and Pandora’s jar supplies its explanation for human troubles.