The more famous version of the Pandora myth comes from another of Hesiod’s poems, Works and Days. In this version of the myth, Hesiod expands upon her origin, and moreover widens the scope of the misery she inflicts on humanity. As before, she is created by Hephaestus, but now more gods contribute to her completion: Athena taught her needlework and weaving; Aphrodite “shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs”; Hermes gave her “a shameful mind and deceitful nature”; Hermes also gave her the power of speech, putting in her “lies and crafty words”; Athena then clothed her; next Persuasion and the Charites adorned her with necklaces and other finery; the Horae adorned her with a garland crown. Finally, Hermes gives this woman a name: Pandora – “All-gifted” – “because all the Olympians gave her a gift”. (In Greek, Pandora has an active rather than a passive meaning; hence, Pandora properly means “All-giving.” The implications of this mistranslation are explored in “All-giving Pandora: mythic inversion?” below.) In this retelling of her story, Pandora’s deceitful feminine nature becomes the least of humanity’s worries. For she brings with her a jar (which, due to textual corruption in the sixteenth century, came to be called a box) containing “burdensome toil and sickness that brings death to men”, diseases and “a myriad other pains”. Prometheus had (fearing further reprisals) warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus. But Epimetheus did not listen; he accepted Pandora, who promptly scattered the contents of her jar. As a result, Hesiod tells us, “the earth and sea are full of evils”″
What’s in the box? What’s in the box? Don’t open it! Oh, shit...
(Grace, longing and care, and being gifted causes the box to be opened. It’s like history just keeps repeating itself or something...)
Well, at least we have a response to the doubters’ “why would anyone even press the button in this situation?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora#Works_and_Days
What’s in the box? What’s in the box? Don’t open it! Oh, shit...
(Grace, longing and care, and being gifted causes the box to be opened. It’s like history just keeps repeating itself or something...)