Works and Days is the ancient Greek poem that describes Pandora as the first woman created as punishment for humanity. It is traditionally attributed to Hesiod, who probably lived in the late eighth or early seventh century BCE.
The poem combines farming advice, moral instruction, justice, and myth. Its account of Pandora appears after the story of Prometheus and fire. Zeus responds to Prometheus by arranging Pandora’s creation and sending her to Epimetheus, where the opening of her container releases troubles into the human world.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are Homeric epics and do not provide this full Pandora narrative. The Theogony, another poem attributed to Hesiod, mentions Pandora-related material but does not offer the same extended account. Works and Days is therefore the key ancient literary source for the familiar myth.