Hesiod first described Pandora’s creation in the surviving literary tradition.
Hesiod was an archaic Greek poet usually dated to around the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. His Works and Days contains the best-known early account of Pandora, including Zeus’s order, the gods’ contributions, her arrival at Epimetheus’s home, and the opening of the pithos.
Hesiod also mentions Pandora in the Theogony, although Works and Days provides the fuller narrative. These poems are among the earliest surviving Greek literary works and are central sources for understanding early Greek ideas about the gods, labor, justice, and the human condition.
Homer is often named alongside Hesiod as one of ancient Greece’s foundational poets, but the surviving Homeric epics do not provide the standard Pandora story. Later writers and artists expanded the myth, while Hesiod remains the key early literary source.