Hesiod’s Works and Days gives the fullest surviving ancient account of Pandora opening the vessel later called her box.
The poem, usually dated to the seventh century BCE, presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus took fire. Zeus has the gods furnish her with gifts, and she is sent to Epimetheus, who accepts her despite Prometheus’s warning. When Pandora opens the storage vessel, evils spread among humans, while Hope remains inside.
Hesiod also mentions Pandora in the Theogony, but that earlier poem gives a shorter account and does not narrate the opening in the same detail. The famous phrase “Pandora’s box” is therefore based mainly on the Works and Days story. Hesiod’s original word was pithos, a large storage jar, not a small box. Later retellings and translations helped turn the jar into the familiar box of modern culture.