Hesiod first tells the surviving Greek literary story of Pandora’s creation and the release of evils.
His Works and Days presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus obtained fire. The poem describes the gods contributing to her formation and presents the opening of her storage jar as the event that releases suffering into the world.
Hesiod also mentions Pandora in the Theogony, although that earlier poem gives less narrative detail about the jar episode. These works are among the oldest surviving Greek poems and are conventionally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE.
Pandora is therefore primarily a Hesiodic figure in the surviving ancient literary tradition. Homer does not provide the familiar Pandora narrative, while later Greek and Roman authors reinterpret many details. Modern retellings often combine elements from Hesiod with later artistic and literary additions.