Hesiod is the earliest major Greek poet known for telling the Pandora myth.
He describes Pandora in two works, Theogony and Works and Days, generally dated to the 7th century BCE. Works and Days gives the fuller account of the jar, the release of evils, and the presence of hope. Theogony focuses more briefly on Pandora’s creation and her role in the punishment of humanity.
Hesiod was probably active in Boeotia, in mainland Greece, and is traditionally paired with Homer as one of the foundational poets of ancient Greek literature. Unlike an author of a modern novel, he worked within an oral poetic tradition, so the precise history of composition and transmission remains uncertain.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” comes from later developments rather than Hesiod’s exact wording. Studying Hesiod helps separate the oldest surviving Greek version from later Roman, Renaissance, and modern retellings.