In which Hesiod poem does Pandora’s creation story first appear in detail?

Hesiod’s Pandora creation story appears in detail in Works and Days.

Works and Days is an archaic Greek poem traditionally attributed to Hesiod, probably composed around the seventh century BCE. Its sections combine farming advice, moral instruction, reflections on justice, and mythic explanations for human suffering. The Pandora episode appears while Hesiod explains why labor and hardship came to humanity.

Hesiod also mentions Pandora in Theogony, but that earlier passage is much briefer and does not provide the full narrative of the jar, the gifts, or the release of troubles. This difference is a common source of confusion when identifying the earliest literary versions.

The poem calls Pandora a beautiful woman created by the gods and connects her arrival with Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus’s theft of fire. The familiar English expression “Pandora’s box” reflects later retellings rather than Hesiod’s original wording.