Which ancient Greek poem links Pandora’s arrival to the release of human troubles?

Works and Days links Pandora’s arrival to the release of human troubles. The poem is attributed to Hesiod and combines myth, farming advice, moral instruction, and reflections on justice and human labor.

Its Pandora episode explains why people must work and why diseases and other hardships exist. After Pandora opens the jar, the troubles spread among humanity, while hope remains inside. This account gives the myth a darker and more explicitly moral setting than many modern retellings.

Hesiod’s Theogony also mentions Pandora, but it does not present the complete jar-opening narrative in the same detail. That is why Works and Days is the most specific ancient literary source for the familiar episode.

The poem is not a continuous adventure story. It addresses Hesiod’s brother Perses and uses mythological examples to support broader lessons about justice, labor, moderation, and the consequences of wrongdoing.