Prometheus’s theft of fire caused Zeus to create Pandora as punishment in the Pandora myth.
Prometheus was a Titan celebrated for helping humanity and, in the best-known version, stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals. Zeus responded by ordering the creation of Pandora, whose arrival and opening of the jar brought suffering into the human world.
The connection appears most clearly in Hesiod’s Works and Days. Hesiod presents Pandora as part of the punishment for Prometheus’s deception at Mecone and his theft of fire. The story consequently connects two major myths: the origin of human fire and the origin of widespread human troubles.
Prometheus is sometimes confused with Epimetheus because both Titans appear in the same narrative. Prometheus is the foresighted brother who warns against accepting Zeus’s gifts; Epimetheus is the brother who accepts Pandora. In later literature, Prometheus becomes an emblem of rebellious invention and human progress.