Hesiod wrote the earliest surviving account of Pandora’s jar.
Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet generally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. His Works and Days contains the extended narrative of Pandora’s creation, her arrival among humans, and the opening of the container that released evils.
Hesiod also mentions the Pandora story in the Theogony, but the account there is much shorter. Works and Days provides the details most associated with the myth, including Zeus’s role, the divine creation of Pandora, and the survival of Elpis, or hope.
The story may have circulated orally before Hesiod wrote it down. Because no earlier complete version survives, scholars rely heavily on Hesiod’s poems when reconstructing the oldest known form. Later Greek and Roman writers, translators, artists, and modern authors adapted the narrative in many ways.