What is the title of Hesiod’s poem containing the fullest Pandora narrative?

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The title of Hesiod’s poem containing the fullest Pandora narrative is Works and Days.

Works and Days is an ancient Greek didactic poem traditionally attributed to Hesiod. It combines advice about farming, justice, work, seafaring, and the organization of the year with stories explaining the human condition. Its account of Pandora appears in the section describing how Zeus’s punishment brought suffering to humanity.

Hesiod also mentions Pandora in Theogony, but Works and Days provides the more developed narrative. It describes the creation of the first woman, the gifts supplied by the gods, her marriage to Epimetheus, and the opening of the storage jar.

The poem’s title is important because it distinguishes the source from Hesiod’s Theogony, which focuses more directly on divine genealogy and cosmic succession. It also separates the Pandora story from later Roman retellings, especially Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which does not provide the foundational Greek version.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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