Hesiod first recorded the complete surviving Greek story of Pandora’s box.
The myth is told in two poems attributed to Hesiod: the Theogony and Works and Days. The Theogony gives a shorter account of Pandora’s creation, while Works and Days provides the fuller narrative in which the newly created woman receives gifts, enters the household of Epimetheus, and opens the storage jar.
Hesiod is usually dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. He was one of the earliest Greek poets whose works survive in substantial form, alongside Homer. His poems are especially important for Greek mythology because they organize stories about the gods, the origins of the cosmos, and the difficult conditions of human life.
Later writers, artists, and translators expanded the story, but there is no earlier complete surviving literary account that replaces Hesiod’s version. The popular English phrase “Pandora’s box” is therefore rooted in a myth preserved through Hesiod’s poetry.