Which ancient work gives the fullest surviving account of Pandora opening her jar?

Works and Days gives the fullest surviving account of Pandora opening her jar.

Works and Days is a didactic poem by Hesiod, an ancient Greek poet. It presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft of fire and describes the troubles released when she opens the container. The poem also explains the arrival of hardship in human life.

Hesiod’s Theogony mentions Pandora and her creation, but its treatment is shorter and does not provide the same extended narrative of the jar’s opening. That difference is why Works and Days is the key ancient source for the familiar episode.

The poem is not only a mythological collection. It also discusses farming, justice, work, seafaring, and proper conduct. Readers sometimes assume the story comes from Homer because Homer is the best-known early Greek poet, but Pandora’s literary account belongs chiefly to Hesiod’s works.