Prometheus warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept Zeus’s gift of Pandora. This warning reflects the contrast between the brothers’ names and roles: Prometheus is associated with foresight, while Epimetheus is associated with thinking afterward.
Hesiod’s narrative places the warning after Zeus’s conflict with Prometheus over fire and sacrifice. Prometheus understood that a gift from Zeus could conceal danger, but Epimetheus accepted Pandora anyway. The episode helps explain why Pandora entered the human world and why the brothers are central to the myth’s sequence of cause and consequence.
This detail is easy to mix up because Epimetheus is the recipient of Pandora, while Prometheus is the adviser who rejects the offer in principle. Prometheus does not open the jar, and Epimetheus is not the one who issues the warning.
Later retellings often shorten the story to “curiosity released the evils,” but the original narrative also emphasizes divine revenge, family contrast, and the danger of ignoring sound advice.