Pandora was the first woman, fashioned by Zeus as part of the punishment of mankind for Prometheus’ theft of the secret of fire.
The titan Epimetheus was responsible for giving a positive trait to each and every animal. However, when it was time to give man a positive trait, there was nothing left. Prometheus, his brother, felt that because man was superior to all other animals, man should have a gift no other animal possessed. So Prometheus set forth to steal fire from Zeus and gave it to man.
Zeus was extremely angry and decided to punish both Prometheus and his creation: mankind. To punish Prometheus, Zeus put his feet in unbreakable chains and set an eagle over him to eat his liver each day. To punish mankind, Zeus ordered the other gods to make Pandora as a poisoned gift for man. Pandora was given several traits from the different gods: Aphrodite gave her beauty; Apollo gave her musical talent and a gift for healing; Zeus made her lazy, mischievous1, and foolish; Hera gave her curiosity; Hermes gave her cunning, boldness and charm.
The most significant of these gifts, however, was a box, given to Pandora either by Hermes or Zeus. Before he was chained to the rock, Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to take any gifts from the gods. Epimetheus did not listen to his brother, however, and when Pandora arrived, he fell in love with her. Hermes told him that Pandora was a gift to the titan from Zeus, and he warned Epimetheus not to open the box.
Until then, mankind had lived a life in a paradise without worry. Epimetheus told Pandora never to open the box she had received from Zeus. However, Pandora’s curiosity got the better of her and when she opened the box, all the misfortunes of mankind (plague, sorrow, poverty, crime, despair, greed etc.) quickly came out of it. She immediately closed it in time to keep one thing in it: hope. The world remained extremely unpleasant, hopeless, lacking in warmth or kindliness for an unspecified interval, until Pandora’s curiosity made her open the box again, at which point hope left the box. Thus, mankind always has hope in times of evil.
1mischievous – somebody who enjoys having fun by causing trouble.
2cunning – the use of clever methods to get what you want, especially methods that involve tricking or cheating people.
3boldness – confident and not afraid.
Internet: <en.wikipedia.org> (adapted).
