In the myth of Pandora, Zeus ordered her creation. He acted after Prometheus gave fire to humanity, an act that Zeus viewed as a challenge to divine authority.
Hesiod’s Works and Days presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment for the human race. Zeus instructs Hephaestus to fashion a woman from earth, while other gods contribute adornments, skills, and qualities. Pandora is then sent to Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother, and the famous jar becomes part of the ensuing story.
Zeus is sometimes omitted from simplified retellings because the focus shifts to Pandora opening the container. However, he is the planner and authority behind the episode in Hesiod’s account. Hephaestus is the maker, not the deity who initiates the plan.
This myth is not the same as the story of Zeus creating all humans. Pandora is specifically created as a consequence of Prometheus’s theft of fire and as a source of trouble entering human life.