In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, Hermes gave Pandora a deceitful mind and a treacherous character.
Hesiod describes Pandora as receiving different qualities from different gods. Hermes, the divine messenger, is associated in the account with putting a deceptive mind and a shameless character into her. Other deities contribute gifts connected with appearance, clothing, speech, or skilled work.
This detail is easy to confuse with the broader statement that Zeus created Pandora or ordered her creation. Zeus initiates the punishment against humanity after Prometheus steals fire, but the myth distributes Pandora’s attributes among several divine figures.
The story reflects Hesiod’s strongly traditional and patriarchal explanation of human hardship. Modern retellings often simplify the episode into a single act of opening a box, leaving out the elaborate creation scene and the separate divine contributions.