Hesiod wrote the Pandora story in his didactic poem Works and Days. Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet generally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, although the exact dates of his life remain uncertain.
Works and Days combines farming advice, moral instruction, descriptions of justice, and mythological narratives. Its Pandora episode explains the origin of human suffering within Hesiod’s larger account of labor and the difficult conditions of mortal life. The poem is one of the earliest surviving Greek literary works to give a detailed version of the story.
Hesiod also mentions Pandora in Theogony, but that earlier or related poem does not provide the same complete jar-opening narrative. This distinction is why Works and Days is the principal ancient source for the familiar story. The modern phrase “Pandora’s box” comes from later transmission rather than Hesiod’s exact wording.