In which Hesiod poem is the best-known account of Pandora opening the jar found?

The best-known account of Pandora opening the jar is found in Hesiod’s Works and Days. The poem presents the episode while explaining why human life contains hardship and labor.

Works and Days is a didactic poem concerned with justice, farming, work, and proper conduct. Its Pandora narrative is part of a broader explanation of humanity’s troubled condition after the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus.

Hesiod also mentions Pandora in Theogony, a poem about the origins and genealogy of the gods. Theogony gives related creation details but does not provide the same extended jar-opening episode that made Works and Days the standard source for the familiar story.

The distinction matters because modern summaries sometimes cite “Hesiod” without naming the poem. When the question concerns Pandora opening the container and releasing evils, Works and Days is the most specific classical source.