In the Pandora myth, Prometheus gives fire to humanity before Zeus creates Pandora.
Prometheus is a Titan associated with forethought, intelligence, and the protection of human beings. In the best-known Greek tradition, he steals fire from the gods and gives it to humans, enabling technology, cooking, metalworking, and other forms of civilization. Zeus regards this act as a serious challenge to divine authority.
Hesiod connects Pandora’s creation with Zeus’s response. Rather than treating the woman as an unrelated character, Works and Days places her story in the sequence of punishments surrounding Prometheus and humanity. Zeus orders the gods to create Pandora and sends her to Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother.
The fire episode differs in detail across ancient authors. Aeschylus’s tragedy Prometheus Bound emphasizes Prometheus as a benefactor who gives humans several arts, while Hesiod focuses more directly on the conflict with Zeus and the consequences for humanity. In all these versions, Prometheus is distinct from Epimetheus, who accepts Pandora despite his brother’s warning.