In the myth of Pandora, Prometheus was punished after stealing fire for humans.
Prometheus was a Titan associated with foresight, craft, and humanity. In Hesiod’s account, he deceived Zeus during a sacrifice and later stole fire for mortals, hiding it in a stalk of fennel. Zeus responded by arranging Pandora’s creation as a punishment for humanity and by inflicting a separate punishment on Prometheus.
The Pandora story is consequently part of a wider chain of myths about the relationship between gods and humans. Fire represents practical knowledge and civilization, while Pandora represents the suffering and troubles Zeus sends in response. Later Greek and Roman writers developed the Prometheus story in different ways.
A common mix-up is to identify Epimetheus as the fire thief. Epimetheus is Prometheus’s brother and Pandora’s husband in the tradition surrounding the myth, but Prometheus is the Titan who defies Zeus by helping mortals. Prometheus’s name is often interpreted as “foresight,” contrasting with Epimetheus, “afterthought.”