Hesiod describes Pandora as the first woman in Works and Days. The poem, composed in archaic Greece, presents her creation as part of Zeus’s punishment after Prometheus stole fire and gave it to humanity.
Hesiod’s account is one of the earliest surviving literary treatments of Pandora. He also refers to her in Theogony, but Works and Days supplies the fuller narrative: the gods adorn or equip Pandora, she receives the container, and its opening spreads troubles among humans. The poem frames the story within a broader explanation of labor, hardship, and the human condition.
Pandora is not a character from Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey. That common mix-up arises because Homer and Hesiod are both foundational early Greek poets. Hesiod’s works, however, are the key ancient literary sources for the Pandora story.