Which Hesiod poem gives the fullest surviving version of Pandora opening the vessel?

Works and Days gives the fullest surviving version of Pandora opening the vessel.

Hesiod mentions Pandora in both Works and Days and Theogony, but Works and Days supplies the more developed narrative. It explains the connection to Prometheus, describes Pandora’s creation and gifts, and tells how the sealed storage vessel was opened and then closed again.

The poem is not solely a mythology collection. It is a didactic work concerned with farming, seasonal labor, justice, social conduct, and the difficulties of human life. The Pandora story helps explain why suffering and hard work characterize the human condition.

Theogony is more focused on divine genealogy and the structure of the cosmos, so its treatment of Pandora is shorter. Readers sometimes cite “Pandora’s box” without naming the source, but Works and Days is the central surviving text for the familiar opening episode.