Pandora is described as the first woman in Hesiod’s Pandora story.
In Works and Days, Zeus orders the gods to create a woman after Prometheus’s deception and theft of fire. Hesiod presents her arrival as a major change for humanity and links her to the origin of toil, disease and other troubles. The story is therefore also an etiological myth about the difficult human condition.
Pandora’s creation is collaborative. Hephaestus makes her form from earth, while several gods provide gifts, skills, beauty or persuasive speech. Her name reflects this collection of divine contributions. She is then brought to Epimetheus, who accepts her despite Prometheus’s warning.
The phrase “first woman” belongs to Hesiod’s mythic framework, not to a historical or scientific account of human origins. Pandora is also distinct from Eve, the first woman in the biblical Book of Genesis. Ancient Greek writers had other female figures and goddesses, but Hesiod specifically casts Pandora as the first woman in this story.