Zeus directed the creation of Pandora in Greek mythology. Hesiod places Pandora’s making within Zeus’s punishment of Prometheus and humanity after Prometheus brought fire to mortals.
Zeus instructs Hephaestus to fashion Pandora from earth, then has the other gods contribute gifts and qualities. The plan is therefore a divine response to Prometheus’s action, not an independent story about a curious woman discovering a container.
This detail is important because later retellings often focus almost entirely on Pandora’s decision to open the vessel. Hesiod’s framework gives the episode a larger conflict: Zeus controls the punishment, Prometheus’s defiance motivates it, and Pandora becomes the means by which suffering reaches human life.
Zeus is also sometimes described in modern summaries as simply handing Pandora the box. The older story is more specific. He commands her creation and arranges her presentation to Epimetheus, while the precise circumstances of opening the vessel vary between versions and translations.