In which Hesiod poem does the full story of Pandora opening the container appear?

The full story of Pandora opening the container appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days. The poem is a didactic work concerned with farming, justice, labor, and the difficult conditions of human life. Pandora’s creation and the release of troubles appear as part of its explanation for why suffering exists in the human world.

Hesiod’s Theogony also describes the creation of the first woman, but its account is shorter and does not give the complete jar-opening episode. This difference is why identifying the exact poem matters when comparing ancient versions. The Iliad and Odyssey, attributed to Homer, do not provide the standard Pandora narrative.

Works and Days is traditionally placed around the seventh century BCE, although exact dating is uncertain. Its Pandora passage became the main literary foundation for later retellings, translations, paintings, poems, and the idiom “to open Pandora’s box.”