Hesiod wrote the ancient Greek account in which Pandora opens the container of human troubles.
Hesiod was an early Greek poet whose works are usually dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. His Works and Days contains the detailed Pandora narrative, including her creation by the gods, her arrival at Epimetheus’s home, and the opening of the jar that releases suffering.
Hesiod’s version is not a modern short story but part of a poem about justice, agriculture, work, and the difficult conditions of human life. Pandora’s myth functions as an explanation for why people must labor and endure sickness and other hardships. The poem also places the story within the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus.
Homer is often named by mistake because the Iliad and Odyssey dominate popular introductions to Greek mythology. However, those epics are not the source of the Pandora episode. Pindar and Sappho were also important Greek poets, but neither is credited with the canonical jar narrative preserved by Hesiod.