Works and Days is the ancient Greek poem that says Pandora’s jar contained the forces bringing suffering to humanity.
The poem is attributed to Hesiod and combines practical advice about farming and justice with mythic explanations of the human condition. Its Pandora episode describes how Zeus arranged for a woman to be created and how the opening of her jar released troubles among people.
The Theogony also includes Pandora-related material, but Works and Days gives the fuller narrative of the jar and the evils inside it. The poem’s account is therefore the principal ancient source for the version most people recognize today.
Works and Days is not simply a myth collection. It addresses labor, agriculture, moral behavior, disputes, and relations between humans and gods. Pandora’s story appears within that broader argument about why human life involves hardship and why labor is unavoidable.