The Myth of Pandora's Box | Pandora - The First Woman of Greek Mythology

Once upon a time, Zeus withdrew fire from humans as punishment for being tricked by the titan Prometheus in favor of the human race. Seeing this as unjust, Prometheus stole the fire and brought it back to humans in a fernal stack, for they needed fire more than the deathless gods. However, Prometheus paid the price for his audacity by being eternally bound to a rock by Zeus, who sent an eagle every day to prey on the ever-regenerating liver of the titan. As if that was not enough, Zeus instructed Hephaestus, god of the forge, to mold from the earth a beautiful evil, the first woman whose descendants would torment the human race. Hephaestus did as he was told, out of clay and water, he sculpted a wonderful being. This was how the very first woman came to be. Hephaestus' creation was so perfect that wonder seized the gods when they saw her. Athena dressed the woman in a silvery gown, and taught her the arts of needlework and weaving. Aphrodite gifted her with grace and care that made the limbs go weak. Pytho, goddess of persuasion and the graces, goddesses of charm and loveliness, decorated her with necklaces and other embroidery. The Herai, goddesses of the seasons, adorned her with a garland crown. And Hermes gifted her with a deceitful nature and the power of speech, putting in her lies and crafty words. When it was Zeus' turn to give the woman a gift, Zeus gifted her with a beautifully decorated box. In that box, Zeus had placed all the turmoil, the sicknesses, diseases, and suffering that bring death to mortal men. Hermes finally gave the woman a name, Pandora, which means all gifted, or all endowed, because all the gods gave her a gift. And then, he carried the woman down to earth, where she would bring doom to the house of any man who took her in. When Prometheus saw Pandora from the mountain he was bound, he foresaw the plague she would bring to the world, and quickly sent word to his brother Epimetheus, warning him not to accept any gifts of a living being from the gods. But as soon as the afterthinking Epimetheus beheld the beautiful Pandora, all his brother's warnings were instantly forgotten, and he foolishly took her as his wife. Not long after Pandora had settled down in the abode of her husband, she became curious as to what was inside the tightly sealed box she came with. Her curiosity grew day by day until she could no longer bear it. One day, unable to stop herself, Pandora opened the box, promptly releasing to the world the swarm of evil spirits trapped inside. Evil spirits destined to forever plague the earth and seas with suffering, disaster, and death. In horror of what she had done, Pandora shut back the lid just before the last spirit could escape. This last spirit, which remained trapped in the box, is called hope. And this is why hope is the last thing to die in man. It is a single blessing to ease the suffering of mankind. But the story does not end there. Pandora bore Epimetheus, a daughter, called Pyrrha, after a while. And Pyrrha later got married to Prometheus' son, Deucalion. In the later future, Deucalion and Pyrrha would be the only mortals to survive the great flood sent by Zeus to wipe out mankind. And the two would go on to repopulate the earth by casting stones over their shoulder, which formed a new race of men and women. This is the myth of Pandora.