Pandora, The First Woman Of Greek Mythology And The Gift Of The Gods
The name Pandora turns up all the time in everyday life, and the phrase Pandora's box is used far beyond mythology. The Pandora behind it is the first woman of Greek myth, and her story begins with a quarrel between Zeus and Prometheus.
So who was Pandora, and what was in the container she opened? The best-known early version of the story comes from the Greek poet Hesiod.
Pandora's story starts with the feud between Zeus and Prometheus.
The Trick With The Ox
One day Prometheus slaughtered a large ox and divided it into two piles. In one he gathered the edible meat and covered it with the stomach. In the other he piled up the bones and hid them under a layer of appetizing fat. Then he asked Zeus to choose. Zeus picked the pile covered in fat and was bitterly disappointed to find bones underneath. He could not forgive the trick, and that is how the feud between the two began.
The Stolen Fire
Prometheus then stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. Zeus seized on the theft to take out all his anger. He had Prometheus chained to a rock in the Caucasus mountains, and the punishment did not end there. Every day an eagle came and ate his liver, and every day the liver grew back, so the torment went on and on.
Even that was not enough for Zeus. After punishing Prometheus, he wanted to punish all of humankind as well, and the result of that anger was Pandora.
Pandora was made on the orders of Zeus, and each of the gods gave her a gift.
In Hesiod's telling, Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the craftsman of the gods, to shape a woman out of earth. The other gods then equipped her. Athena dressed and adorned her, and she was decked out with garlands, flowers and a veil. Aphrodite gave her beauty and an irresistible charm. Hermes gave her a cunning mind and a talent for deceiving people. Her name, Pandora, is tied to those gifts from the gods.
Pandora was then brought down to earth and offered to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Prometheus had warned his brother never to accept anything that came from Zeus, but Epimetheus forgot the warning when he saw how beautiful Pandora was. He accepted her and married her.
When Pandora opened the container, every evil escaped into the world and only hope stayed inside.
Along with Pandora came a container holding everything humans had not known until then: diseases, pain, sorrow and every kind of evil. She was told never to open it, but Zeus knew she would.
Pandora was curious by nature, and the forbidden thing drew her in. In the end her curiosity won and she lifted the lid. Diseases, pains and sorrows poured out and spread across the world. She closed it again at once, but it was too late. Only one thing was left inside: hope.
A Jar Rather Than A Box
In Hesiod's Greek the container is a pithos, a large storage jar. The familiar box is usually traced to the 16th-century humanist Erasmus, who rendered the word as a box when he translated the story into Latin.
Was Pandora To Blame?
Pandora has long been accused of bringing misfortune on all humankind. In the story, though, she is the instrument of a plan drawn up by Zeus, who used her to take revenge on humans. And the hope that stayed in the jar is the detail people still return to today.
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