myth0s: Pandora from Hesiod’s Works and...

Pandora from Hesiod’s Works and Days

After fire had been stolen from him and given back to humanity, see the myth of Prometheus, Zeus was so furious that he decided to punish mankind to remind them of his power. He asked Hephaestus, the god of technology and craftsmanship, to create the first woman from earth and clay.

The woman was named Pandora, or “all-gifted”. The origins of her name came from the talents that the gods and goddesses bestowed onto her. From Aphrodite, she was given beauty; Apollo gave her music; Hermes and his persuasion and power of speech; Athena taught her needlework and weaving and so forth.

Her sole purpose was to inflict as much misery on mankind as possible. In her story, she brought a jar with her everywhere she went. The jar contained toil and disease that brought death to men and a myriad of other pains and evils.

Prometheus had tried to warn his brother Epimetheus about Zeus’s revenge and specifically not to accept any gifts from him, but his brother did not listen. He accepted Pandora and she unleashed the contents of her jar to the world. The world was tarnished by the evils of the jar, but one item wasn’t able to escape: hope.

Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house,
she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not
fly away. Before [she could], Pandora replaced the
lid of the jar. This was the will of aegis-bearing
Zeus the Cloudgatherer.