Hesiod wrote both Works and Days and Theogony, the main early sources for Pandora.
Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet traditionally placed around the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. Theogony describes the origins and genealogy of the gods, while Works and Days combines practical instruction with reflections on justice, labor, and human suffering. Together, these poems preserve the earliest substantial literary evidence for Pandora.
Hesiod and Homer are often treated as foundational Greek poets, but they serve different purposes in surviving literature. Homer is associated with epic poems such as the Iliad and Odyssey. Hesiod’s poems are more directly concerned with divine genealogy, moral instruction, work, and the organization of the cosmos.
The two Hesiodic accounts are not identical in emphasis. Theogony is brief about Pandora, whereas Works and Days gives the more developed narrative involving the vessel, the escaping troubles, and hope. Later authors inherited and reshaped this material, so modern versions may combine details from different traditions.