In the myth of Pandora, Prometheus stole fire from the gods before Zeus sent her to humans. His act supplies the immediate cause for Zeus’s punishment in Hesiod’s account.
Prometheus is a Titan associated with forethought, intelligence, and humanity’s welfare. Greek myths describe him as obtaining fire and giving it to humans, allowing them to cook, make tools, and develop civilization. Zeus responds by arranging a punishment that includes Pandora’s creation and delivery.
Prometheus is sometimes confused with Epimetheus, his brother. Their names are conventionally explained through ideas of forethought and afterthought: Prometheus thinks ahead, while Epimetheus acts or understands afterward. In the Pandora story, Epimetheus receives Pandora despite Prometheus’s warning not to accept gifts from Zeus. The fire theft and Pandora episode belong to a wider group of myths about the boundary between gods and humans.