Which ancient Greek poem gives the earliest surviving literary account of Pandora?

Works and Days gives the earliest surviving literary account of Pandora. The poem was written by the Greek poet Hesiod, usually dated to around the late eighth or early seventh century BCE.

Works and Days is not primarily a narrative adventure. It is a didactic poem addressing farming, justice, labor, seasonal timing, and proper conduct. The Pandora story appears within its explanation of why human life includes hardship and toil.

Hesiod also discusses Pandora in Theogony, but Works and Days contains the fuller account of her creation and the opening of the jar. The two poems are therefore related sources, though they do not present exactly the same level of detail.

Readers often associate Pandora mainly with the later phrase “Pandora’s box.” Hesiod’s poem instead describes a jar and connects the episode to Zeus, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and the origins of human suffering.