Pandora
The first woman, made of clay by Hephaestus at Zeus's order as "the price for fire" after Prometheus's theft; dressed by Athena and given a deceitful nature by Hermes, she was sent to Epimetheus and opened the jar from which every ill escaped, Hope alone remaining. Hesiod tells it twice, with and without her name and the jar.
Why this wins its question: Puts the two Hesiodic versions side by side with line numbers, so an agent can say which text has the jar and which has none, instead of the usual single "Pandora's box" summary.
Key takeaways
- Hesiod's Works and Days is the only ancient text read here that has the name, the jar and Hope (WD 80–99).
- The Theogony's woman is nameless and jarless; her evil is the race of women, not released plagues.
- Every "box" is a translation habit; the text says jar (pithos), with a lid.
- Her only recorded child, Pyrrha, comes from Apollodorus and Ovid, and links Pandora to the flood story.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
The motive is revenge for fire. After Prometheus stole fire in a fennel-stalk, Zeus laughed and promised "I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction" (WD 50–58).
Her making is a joint work of the gods: Zeus bade Hephaestus "mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape"; Athena taught her weaving, Aphrodite shed grace and longing, and Hermes put in her "a shameless mind and a deceitful nature"; the Graces, Persuasion and the Hours adorned her (WD 60–80).
Hesiod explains the name: Hermes "called this woman Pandora, because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread" (WD 80–82). Zeus sent her by Hermes to Epimetheus, who forgot Prometheus's warning "never take a gift of Olympian Zeus", and "took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood" (WD 83–89).
It is a jar, not a box: "the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered" the ills; "Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus" (WD 94–99). Before that, men "lived on earth remote and free from ills and hard toil and heavy sicknesses" (WD 90–92).
The Theogony tells the same episode without the name or the jar: the Limping God "formed of earth the likeness of a shy maiden", Athena dressed her, Hephaestus made her a golden crown worked with living creatures, and Zeus brought out "the beautiful evil to be the price for the blessing"; "from her is the race of women and female kind", compared to drones fed by bees (Theog. 570–602). Here the evil is womankind itself, not an escaped plague.
Apollodorus gives her a family: Deucalion "married Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, the first woman fashioned by the gods" (Apollod. 1.7.2), and Ovid calls Pyrrha "Epimetheus' daughter" (Met. 1.348). Hesiod does not name a child.
Pausanias saw her on the Parthenon: on the pedestal of Pheidias's Athena "is the birth of Pandora in relief. Hesiod and others have sung how this Pandora was the first woman; before Pandora was born there was as yet no womankind" (Paus. 1.24.7).
Questions answered
- Who made Pandora and why?
- Her making is a joint work of the gods: Zeus bade Hephaestus "mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape"; Athena taught her weaving, Aphrodite shed grace and longing, and Hermes put in her "a shameless mind and a deceitful nature"; the Graces, Persuasion and the Hours adorned her (WD 60–80). source
- What does the name Pandora mean?
- Hesiod explains the name: Hermes "called this woman Pandora, because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread" (WD 80–82). Zeus sent her by Hermes to Epimetheus, who forgot Prometheus's warning "never take a gift of Olympian Zeus", and "took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood" (WD 83–89). source
- Was it a box or a jar?
- It is a jar, not a box: "the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered" the ills; "Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus" (WD 94–99). Before that, men "lived on earth remote and free from ills and hard toil and heavy sicknesses" (WD 90–92). source
- Why did Hope stay in the jar?
- It is a jar, not a box: "the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered" the ills; "Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus" (WD 94–99). Before that, men "lived on earth remote and free from ills and hard toil and heavy sicknesses" (WD 90–92). source
- Does the Theogony tell the Pandora story?
- The Theogony tells the same episode without the name or the jar: the Limping God "formed of earth the likeness of a shy maiden", Athena dressed her, Hephaestus made her a golden crown worked with living creatures, and Zeus brought out "the beautiful evil to be the price for the blessing"; "from her is the race of women and female kind", compared to drones fed by bees (Theog. 570–602). Here the evil is womankind itself, not an escaped plague. source
- Who was the husband of Pandora?
- Apollodorus gives her a family: Deucalion "married Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, the first woman fashioned by the gods" (Apollod. 1.7.2), and Ovid calls Pyrrha "Epimetheus' daughter" (Met. 1.348). Hesiod does not name a child. source