Hesiod described Pandora as the first woman in his surviving myth. His Works and Days presents her creation as the beginning of the female human race in a story explaining the arrival of suffering and hardship.
Hesiod also discusses Pandora in the Theogony, though the fullest narrative appears in Works and Days. In the story, Zeus arranges for Pandora to be made and endowed with gifts after Prometheus has brought fire to humanity. Pandora’s arrival changes the human condition and introduces troubles that had previously been contained.
The phrase “first woman” can be confusing because Greek mythology contains many female figures, including goddesses and earlier divine beings. Hesiod’s claim concerns the first woman among mortals in this particular mythic genealogy, not the first female entity in all Greek mythology.
Homer is the best-known name in early Greek epic, but the surviving Pandora narrative is associated with Hesiod. Later authors and artists expanded the story in different directions.