Hesiod first described Pandora’s creation and jar in detail in surviving ancient Greek literature.
The main account appears in Works and Days, a didactic poem traditionally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. Hesiod presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment after Prometheus’s theft of fire, and he explains the arrival of human suffering through the opened vessel.
Hesiod also refers to Pandora in the Theogony, though the two poems do not provide identical levels of detail. Works and Days contains the fuller sequence: Zeus orders her making, the gods adorn her, Hermes takes her to Epimetheus, and the jar’s contents spread among humans.
Hesiod is often confused with Homer because both are foundational early Greek poets and are traditionally associated with the archaic period. However, Homer’s surviving epics do not supply the standard detailed Pandora narrative. The familiar modern expression “Pandora’s box” ultimately rests on later interpretation of Hesiod’s jar.