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Why does Zeus create Pandora in Hesiod's Theogony?
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Hesiod
Hesiod, detail of a mosaic by Monnus, 3rd century; in the Rhenish State Museum, Trier, Germany.
In Hesiodās Theogony, Zeus creates Pandora as a direct response to the actions of Prometheus, who had stolen fire from heaven and bestowed it upon humanity.12
Zeus, the king of the gods, sought to counteract this blessing and punish humankind for the deception Prometheus had committed against him. To achieve this, Zeus commissioned Hephaestus to fashion the first woman, Pandora, out of earth. The gods bestowed their choicest gifts upon her, and Zeus sent her to earth to "bedevil man," serving as a manifestation of his supreme and irresistible power.123
While the Theogony establishes her creation as a punishment, the specific details regarding the jar of miseries are primarily expanded upon in Hesiod's other work, Works and Days.13