Works and Days contains the detailed ancient account of Pandora opening the container.
Works and Days is a didactic poem attributed to Hesiod and usually dated to the early archaic period of Greek literature. Alongside advice about farming, justice, labor, and social conduct, it includes myths that explain the human condition. Pandora’s creation and the opening of her container appear in that context.
Hesiod also mentions Pandora in the Theogony, but the Theogony does not preserve the same full narrative of the jar being opened and hope remaining inside. This difference is important because people sometimes treat the two poems as if they contain identical versions.
The poem’s Pandora story follows the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus and helps explain why human beings experience hardship. Its moral and social setting differs from later popular retellings, which often focus only on curiosity and catastrophe. The phrase “Pandora’s box” is modern, while Works and Days describes a pithos, or large jar.