In which Hesiod poem is Pandora’s story told in its fullest surviving form?

Pandora’s story is told in its fullest surviving form in Hesiod’s Works and Days.

The poem presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft of fire. It describes how the gods contribute to her appearance and abilities before she is sent to Epimetheus. The narrative then explains how human suffering enters the world and why hope remains associated with the vessel.

Hesiod also mentions Pandora in the Theogony, but that account is much shorter. The Theogony focuses mainly on the divine order and Zeus’s punishment, while Works and Days develops the story as part of a broader meditation on labor, justice, and the difficult condition of human life.

Works and Days is not a simple myth collection. It combines myth, farming advice, moral instruction, and reflections on justice. That context helps explain why Pandora’s story functions as an explanation of suffering within a larger poem about how people should live.