In the oldest surviving Greek account, the poet Hesiod first tells the story of Pandora.
Hesiod includes Pandora in two early Greek poems: Theogony and Works and Days. Theogony gives a brief account of her creation, while Works and Days supplies the fuller sequence involving Prometheus, Epimetheus, the divine gifts, and the container of troubles.
Hesiod is generally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, although the exact dates remain debated. He is traditionally placed after the period associated with Homer, but the chronology of early Greek epic is not certain enough to treat every traditional date as precise.
The story’s later title, “Pandora’s box,” does not come directly from Hesiod’s wording. His Greek text describes a pithos, or jar. The familiar box formulation developed through later translation and literary tradition, while Hesiod remains the earliest surviving source for the myth itself.