Hesiod first tells the Pandora myth in a surviving literary work.
Hesiod was an early Greek poet usually dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. His Works and Days contains the most developed surviving account of Pandora, explaining her creation and the release of human suffering. His Theogony also includes a shorter related passage about the woman and the consequences of Prometheus’s actions.
Hesiod’s poems are among the earliest surviving Greek literary works. They differ in purpose from the heroic epic associated with Homer: Works and Days combines myth with advice about farming, justice, labor, and social conduct, while Theogony presents a genealogy and history of the gods.
Later writers, artists, translators, and philosophers reshaped Pandora’s story. Because many modern versions simplify the myth, readers may not realize that the earliest surviving account is embedded in a poem concerned with everyday work and moral order.