In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Zeus commissioned Pandora’s creation. The story presents her as part of Zeus’s retaliation after Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity.
Zeus instructs Hephaestus to make Pandora and tells the other gods to supply her with qualities and gifts. Hermes then takes her to Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother. Although Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to accept anything from Zeus, Epimetheus accepts Pandora and marries her.
The myth is therefore more than a simple story about curiosity. Hesiod frames Pandora as a divinely designed punishment and connects her arrival with the burdens of human life. Later versions often simplify the narrative by focusing almost entirely on the opening of the container, while the earliest literary account emphasizes Zeus’s plan and the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus.