Hesiod’s Works and Days tells the story of Pandora opening the container that releases human evils.
The poem, composed in archaic Greece, presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus gives mortals fire. Zeus has Pandora created and sent to Epimetheus. When she opens the container, troubles and evils spread among humans, while hope remains inside according to the familiar interpretation of the passage.
Hesiod’s Theogony also discusses Pandora’s creation, but it does not provide the same full container-opening episode. This distinction matters because modern summaries often blend the two poems together. The familiar image of “Pandora’s box” is also later wording: Hesiod’s Greek text refers to a large storage jar, commonly called a pithos.
The Works and Days account is therefore the key ancient literary source for the opening episode, while the Theogony supplies a shorter related account of Pandora’s creation.