Hesiod wrote the earliest surviving version of Pandora’s creation in the *Theogony*. The poem is a major source for Greek ideas about the origins and genealogies of the gods, and its account describes Zeus ordering the creation of the first woman after the theft of fire.
The *Theogony* does not present the familiar modern “box” episode in its fullest form. Hesiod’s more extended account appears in *Works and Days*, where Pandora opens a storage jar and troubles escape into the world. Reading both poems together helps explain why modern summaries often blend details from them.
Hesiod probably lived in the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, although his exact dates are uncertain. He is traditionally associated with Boeotia and is commonly paired with Homer as one of the foundational poets of archaic Greek literature. The Pandora material survives through these ancient poems rather than through a single later invention.