The Hesiod poem that gives the fullest ancient account of Pandora’s story is Works and Days. The poem combines practical advice about farming and justice with myths explaining the human condition.
Hesiod describes Pandora’s creation as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft of fire. The poem tells how the gods furnish Pandora with gifts, how she goes to Epimetheus, and how opening the container changes life for humanity. It also connects the episode with the origins of toil and suffering.
Hesiod’s Theogony mentions Pandora-related material too, but it is primarily a poem about the origins and genealogies of the gods. Works and Days is therefore the key ancient literary source for the detailed Pandora narrative.
The poem is generally placed around the seventh century BCE, although its exact date and composition remain subjects of classical scholarship. Its mixture of myth and moral instruction makes it important for understanding Greek ideas about labor, justice, and divine power.