PANDORA.
The first woman, Pandora was created by Zeus (Jupiter). The Titan Prometheus had given fire to men after Zeus had deprived them of it and had also tricked Zeus into choosing the less desirable portion of animals sacrificed to the gods by mortals. In revenge, Zeus ordered Hephaestus (Vulcan) to fashion Pandora (“all gifts”); Athena (Minerva) gave her life and breath and the other gods bestowed charms on her. Hermes (Mercury), however, taught her flattery and guile and, as Zeus’s messenger, brought her to Prometheus’s gullible brother Epimetheus. In spite of Prometheus’s warnings against taking gifts from Zeus, Epimetheus gladly accepted her. Pandora carried with her a jar that she was forbidden to open, filled with evils and diseases that had been previously unknown on earth. When she opened the jar, all of them flew out, leaving behind only Hope as a consolation for mortals.

    In postclassical times, Pandora’s jar became confused with the box that Psyche, in Apuleius’s Golden Ass, was forbidden to open. The early Christian church identified Pandora with the biblical Eve.


     See also: Prometheus