Pandora

Greek mythology · mortal · the gods' trap, hope

The first woman, crafted by Hephaestus at Zeus's order as beautiful vengeance for stolen fire. Her jar, mistranslated for centuries as a box, loosed every evil into the world, with hope alone left under the lid.

Stories

Pandora's Jar

To repay the theft of fire, Zeus orders Hephaestus to shape a woman of clay, beautiful and inescapable. Epimetheus ignores his brother Prometheus's warning and takes her in; Pandora lifts the lid of her jar, every evil flies loose into the world, and only hope is left beneath the rim.