Which Greek poem, besides Works and Days, tells part of Pandora’s story?

The story behind the answer

Theogony is the Greek poem, besides Works and Days, that tells part of Pandora’s story.

Theogony, attributed to Hesiod, describes the creation of the first woman in the context of Zeus’s conflict with Prometheus. It mentions the woman fashioned by the gods and connects her appearance with the consequences of Prometheus’s theft of fire. The poem does not provide the same full vessel episode found in Works and Days.

Works and Days gives the more detailed account of Pandora’s gifts, her marriage to Epimetheus, and the opening of the vessel. Theogony is more concerned with divine genealogy and the ordering of the cosmos, so its treatment is shorter.

The two poems are often discussed together because both are traditionally associated with Hesiod and preserve early Greek versions of the myth. They should not be treated as identical retellings: each emphasizes different parts of Pandora’s origin.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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