Prometheus stole fire for humans before Zeus sent Pandora. In Greek mythology, his act gives humanity a powerful divine resource and provokes Zeus’s punishment.
Prometheus is a Titan, although he helps the Olympian order in some myths. His name is associated with forethought, and he is portrayed as clever, defiant, and sympathetic toward humans. Hesiod connects his theft of fire with the arrival of Pandora and the evils that subsequently affect human life.
The Pandora story is therefore part of a larger sequence rather than an isolated episode. Zeus punishes Prometheus, and humanity receives Pandora as another consequence of the conflict. Later writers, especially Aeschylus, developed Prometheus into a more openly heroic champion of human civilization.
The fire theft is often confused with the story of Hephaestus because Hephaestus is the divine smith and fire is central to his identity. In the Pandora cycle, however, Prometheus is the figure credited with taking fire to humanity.