Prometheus stole fire before Pandora was created in the ancient Greek myth.
Hesiod presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft. Prometheus takes fire for humanity, an act that improves human life but defies Zeus’s authority. Zeus then arranges for Pandora to be fashioned and sent to Epimetheus, introducing a different form of punishment.
Fire has a broad symbolic and practical role in Greek mythology. It can represent technology, craft, cooking and civilization, while the myth explains why its benefits came with divine consequences. Later writers, especially Aeschylus, develop Prometheus as a champion of humanity, although ancient portrayals are not uniform.
The fire episode is separate from the opening of Pandora’s jar. Prometheus does not open the jar, and Pandora does not steal fire. Keeping those events distinct makes the sequence of the myth clearer: theft of fire first, Pandora’s creation and the release of evils afterward.