Which Greek work links Pandora’s story with the origins of human suffering and labor?

Works and Days links Pandora’s story with the origins of human suffering and labor.

The poem is attributed to Hesiod and combines practical advice about farming and seafaring with moral instruction, disputes about justice, and myths explaining the human condition. Its Pandora episode follows the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus and describes how evils spread among mortals after the container is opened.

The work’s context is important. Pandora is not presented only as a character in an isolated adventure; her story helps explain why people must work, struggle, and endure hardship. Hesiod also includes the myth of the Five Ages of Man, another account of humanity’s declining condition.

The Iliad and Odyssey are Homeric epics concerned with heroes, warfare, travel, and the gods, but neither supplies Hesiod’s complete Pandora narrative. The title Works and Days is often translated from the Greek Erga kai Hēmerai and reflects the poem’s practical and ethical themes.