Zeus directed Hephaestus to make Pandora in Hesiod’s Works and Days.
The command follows the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus. Prometheus had stolen fire and given it to humans, an act that angered Zeus. As punishment, Zeus arranged for Pandora to be fashioned and sent to humanity, bringing a new source of suffering into the human world.
Hephaestus carried out the physical creation, but Zeus remained the authority behind the plan. Other gods then added gifts and characteristics, which explains why the name Pandora is associated with receiving contributions from many deities.
This episode belongs to Hesiod’s mythic explanation for why human life includes labor, disease, and hardship. It is not a story about the Greek gods discovering a previously existing box. The container and Pandora form part of Zeus’s deliberate punishment narrative.