Hesiod wrote Works and Days, the poem containing the fullest surviving Pandora jar episode.
Works and Days is a didactic poem concerned with farming, justice, labor, and the relationship between humans and the gods. Its Pandora episode appears while Hesiod explains why people experience suffering and must work for their livelihood. In the story, Pandora opens the container and releases troubles into the world, while hope remains within it.
Hesiod is traditionally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, making him one of the earliest Greek poets whose works survive substantially. His other major poem, Theogony, also describes Pandora’s creation, but it does not provide the same narrative treatment of the jar. Homer and Hesiod are often discussed together as foundational Greek poets, yet the Pandora story belongs specifically to Hesiod’s poetic tradition. The surviving texts are ancient and have passed through a long manuscript history.