Which Greek work by Hesiod first records the story of Pandora’s creation and jar?

Works and Days by Hesiod first records the story of Pandora’s creation and jar.

The poem is a didactic work combining farming advice, moral instruction, myth, and reflections on justice. Within it, Hesiod tells how Zeus responds to Prometheus’s theft of fire by arranging the creation of Pandora. The story explains the arrival of hardship and suffering in human life while also describing the divine gifts given to Pandora.

Hesiod also includes the myth of the Five Ages of Man, another famous account of humanity’s decline from a golden age. Works and Days is therefore more than a narrative about one woman or one vessel. It places Pandora within a larger argument about labor, justice, restraint, and the consequences of disrespecting divine authority.

Theogony, another poem attributed to Hesiod, discusses the gods’ genealogy and the succession of divine rulers, but it does not provide the full Pandora episode. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey likewise do not serve as the primary ancient source for this story. The precise ancient wording matters because later versions add details such as curiosity that Hesiod does not emphasize.