Prometheus was the Titan punished after giving fire to humanity before Pandora’s creation. In Greek mythology, he stole fire from the gods and delivered it to mortals, enabling human civilization and technology.
Zeus responded by ordering Pandora’s creation as part of a punishment for humanity. Hesiod’s Works and Days presents Pandora’s arrival immediately within this larger sequence of divine retaliation. Prometheus’s personal punishment was separate: he was chained to a mountain, where an eagle repeatedly ate his liver.
Prometheus is often portrayed as a benefactor of humankind, but ancient sources do not all emphasize exactly the same details. His name is commonly interpreted as “forethought,” contrasting with his brother Epimetheus, whose name suggests “afterthought.”
The fire episode and Pandora story are therefore connected but not identical. Prometheus did not open the jar, and Pandora did not steal the fire; each figure belongs to a different stage of the mythic explanation for human hardship.