Hesiod’s Works and Days gives the fullest surviving account of Pandora’s creation and the opened container. The poem presents Pandora within a story about the origins of human suffering and the consequences of Prometheus’s theft of fire.
In the episode, Zeus has Hephaestus fashion Pandora, and several gods contribute qualities or gifts. Hermes then brings her to humanity. Hesiod describes the container and the evils released from it as part of his wider moral and agricultural poem.
Hesiod also refers to Pandora in the Theogony, but that poem provides a shorter account rather than the detailed narrative found in Works and Days. This distinction matters because later summaries often blend details from both works.
Works and Days is not a novel or a purely mythological collection. It also contains advice about farming, seafaring, justice, work, and the seasonal calendar, making Pandora’s story one episode within a practical Greek poem.