The standard English title of Hesiod’s poem containing the earliest surviving Pandora story is Theogony. The title means “birth of the gods” or “genealogy of the gods,” reflecting the poem’s main subject.
The Theogony describes the origins and succession of divine powers, beginning with primordial beings and moving through the Titans and Olympians. Near the end, it introduces Pandora as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus and humanity. The account is concise compared with the version in Works and Days.
The poem is one of the foundational works of Greek mythology. It is generally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, although its composition and transmission are subjects of scholarly discussion. Works and Days expands the Pandora episode, but Theogony is the earlier surviving literary record.