Pandora

The first woman, molded from earth and water by Hephaestus at Zeus's command and decked by Athena — the beautiful evil sent to mankind in payment for Prometheus's theft of fire (Hes. *Theog.* 570–589). In the *Works and Days* she is named: each god lays a gift in her, and so she is called Pandora, all-gifts (Hes. *WD* 60–82). Married to slow-witted Epimetheus against Prometheus's warning, she lifts the lid of the great storage jar and looses every grief and sickness upon the world; only Hope is left under the rim when she closes it again (Hes. *WD* 90–105).