Hesiod gave the fullest ancient account of Pandora’s creation and jar.
Hesiod was an early Greek poet usually dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. His Works and Days contains the main surviving narrative of Pandora: Zeus orders her creation, the gods equip her with gifts, and she opens the container that releases human troubles. Hesiod also mentions Pandora briefly in the Theogony.
The story appears in Hesiod’s explanation of why human life includes labor and hardship. It is linked to the punishment of Prometheus, who had stolen fire for humanity. Pandora’s arrival forms part of Zeus’s response to that act.
Homer is often named as a possible contemporary of Hesiod, but the detailed Pandora narrative is not attributed to Homer. Ovid and Sophocles belong to different literary traditions and do not provide the primary surviving Greek version.