In the Greek Pandora story, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to make Pandora from earth. Hesiod describes this command as part of Zeus’s punishment after Prometheus gave fire to humans.
Hephaestus, the divine craftsman, shapes the woman from earth at Zeus’s instruction. Other gods then add qualities or gifts, including clothing, skill, charm, speech, and a name. The sequence presents Pandora as a collective divine construction rather than the product of one god alone.
Zeus’s motive is central to Hesiod’s version. Prometheus had deceived Zeus in a sacrifice and later stolen fire for humanity, so Zeus devised a new hardship for mortals. Pandora’s arrival introduces a female figure, marriage, labor, and the troubles associated with the opened container in the poem’s moral framework. Later retellings frequently reduce this structure to “Pandora opened a box,” but the ancient narrative begins with Zeus’s deliberate plan and command.