Zeus commanded Hephaestus to create Pandora as punishment for humanity.
In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Zeus reacts angrily after Prometheus deceives him and steals fire for mortals. The god then orders Hephaestus, the divine craftsman, to make a woman from earth. Other gods contribute qualities and decorations, but Zeus initiates the creation and directs the broader punishment.
This division of roles is easy to blur in popular retellings. Hephaestus is the maker, Prometheus is the one whose defiance triggers the response, and Epimetheus becomes Pandora’s recipient. Zeus is the authority behind the plan. Keeping those roles separate produces the canonical answer to the question.
The episode also belongs to a larger pattern in Greek mythology in which Zeus enforces the boundary between gods and humans. Fire symbolizes knowledge and technological power, while Pandora’s arrival introduces suffering and the burdens of mortal life. The story thus links divine authority, human advantage, and punishment in a single mythic sequence.