The Greek myth of Pandora first appears in a surviving written source around 700 BC. The source is Hesiod’s Works and Days, an archaic Greek poem about farming, justice, labor, and human hardship.
Dating the poem precisely is impossible, but Hesiod is generally placed in the late eighth or early seventh century BC. Works and Days contains the fullest early account of Pandora’s creation, her marriage to Epimetheus, and the opening of the storage jar. The poem also frames the story as an explanation for why suffering and difficult labor affect human life.
The date refers to surviving written evidence, not necessarily the invention of the story. Myths circulated orally before being recorded, and no exact date can be assigned to the tale’s origin. Hesiod’s Theogony also mentions Pandora, but Works and Days provides the detailed narrative most later retellings use.