In the Greek myth of Pandora, Pandora opened the container that released troubles into the world.
The story appears most fully in Hesiod’s Works and Days, composed in the seventh or eighth century BCE. Zeus had the gods create Pandora as the first woman, and she was given gifts including curiosity and persuasive speech. She was sent to Epimetheus, who accepted her despite his brother Prometheus’s warning not to accept gifts from Zeus.
Pandora’s container held evils that had previously been kept away from humanity. When she opened it, these forces escaped and spread through the world. The popular phrase “Pandora’s box” is a later translation tradition: Hesiod described a large storage jar, not a small box.
The surviving account does not present her action as a modern detective-style mystery. It is part of a Greek origin story explaining why human life includes suffering, illness, labor, and other hardships.