Pandora in Greek and Roman Mythology | Meaning and Origin of Pandora's Box, Hope, and Her Relationship with Prometheus

The story commonly known as "Pandora's box" actually began not with a box but with a jar. Let's go through the original text preserved in Hesiod's Works and Days, in the very order in which it has been handed down.

Pandora, the Woman Made by the Gods

Works and Days begins its story with the scene in which the gods create Pandora and send her into the world of humans. The original text explains her appearance by directly connecting it to the suffering that humans experience.

The original text does not spell out in detail exactly what motive lay behind Pandora's creation or through what process she was made. However, it is clearly confirmed in the original text that her appearance itself is the starting point of the events that unfold afterward.

The Moment the Jar's Lid Is Opened

Pandora had been given a single jar. The next scene the story moves toward is the moment when the lid of this jar is opened.

When Pandora opened the lid, all the evils inside spread out into the world of humans all at once. The original text depicts this scene as the source of the suffering humans experience thereafter.

What Remained in the Jar After the Escaped Evils

Even after all the evils had escaped, one thing remained inside the jar. That is hope.

The original text makes it clear that hope remained inside the jar. But how to read this fact is another matter. It can be understood to mean that hope, unable to get out, ended up trapped inside, or that hope stayed by humanity's side to the very end even after all the other evils had escaped. The original text itself does not settle on one of the two explanations.

It Was a "Jar," Not a "Box"

Today this story is commonly referred to as "Pandora's box." But the vessel dealt with in the original text is not a box but a jar—specifically a pithos, a large storage jar.

So if you follow this story through the original text, "box" and "jar" are not the same expression and must be read as two separate strands. Exactly when and through what route the widely used expression "box" today became established cannot be confirmed from Hesiod's original text alone. That process of formation is a later story added after the original text, and this page covers only as far as what the original text actually confirms.

Figures Leading into the Next Story

The figure most often mentioned alongside the Pandora story is Prometheus. You can find out exactly how the two figures are connected in the Prometheus myth.

You can continue reading other myths in which Zeus becomes entangled with the world of humans, including this event, in the Zeus myths. For where the Pandora story sits within Greek mythology as a whole, see the Greek mythology genealogy, and for the broader ancient background in which these stories were transmitted, see background knowledge before reading the Odyssey.