Hesiod uses the Greek phrase “kalon kakon” for Pandora in the Theogony, meaning “beautiful evil.” The phrase captures the poem’s paradoxical presentation of her as attractive while being part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity.
The expression is significant because Pandora’s beauty is not treated as merely decorative. In Hesiod’s story, her appearance and gifts help make the divine punishment effective. The description also reflects the poem’s strongly negative view of the consequences of the gods’ conflict with Prometheus.
The phrase is sometimes confused with Pandora’s name, which means “all-gifted,” or with the later English expression “Pandora’s box.” These are related elements of the tradition but are not translations of one another.
Translations vary in capitalization, spacing, and exact English wording. “Beautiful evil” is the standard concise rendering of the Greek phrase, while the Greek transliteration may appear as kalon kakon or kalon kakon in reference works.