Hesiod gives Pandora a detailed literary role in Works and Days. Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet generally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, and Works and Days is one of the two major poems traditionally attributed to him.
In the poem, Pandora’s creation follows Prometheus’s theft of fire and Zeus’s decision to impose a punishment on humanity. The gods contribute gifts, Pandora receives the vessel, and the release of its contents explains why human life includes hardship. Hesiod also presents Pandora in Theogony, though the account there is shorter and arranged differently.
Hesiod is sometimes confused with Homer because both are foundational Greek poets whose dates are uncertain and whose works were transmitted orally before being written down. Homer is associated chiefly with the Iliad and Odyssey; the Pandora narrative belongs to Hesiod’s poetic tradition.