In the Pandora myth, Epimetheus became Pandora’s husband despite his brother’s warning.
Epimetheus was a Titan whose name is commonly interpreted as “afterthought,” contrasting with his brother Prometheus, whose name suggests forethought. Prometheus warned him not to accept gifts from Zeus, but Epimetheus accepted Pandora when she was sent to humanity.
Hesiod presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment for Prometheus’s theft of fire. Her arrival introduces the troubles that had previously been absent from human life. Epimetheus’s failure to heed the warning is one reason later storytellers associate him with hindsight and poor judgment.
Epimetheus and Pandora are also connected with the next generation of Greek myth. Their daughter is usually identified as Pyrrha, who later becomes the wife of Deucalion. Deucalion and Pyrrha survive Zeus’s flood in a separate but related Greek tradition.