Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology, and this box is related to the creation myth of "Pandora", which is mentioned in Hesiod's book "The Works and Days of Hesiod".
The box actually takes the form of a large urn, which is called "Pythos" in Greek, and this jar was given to "Pandora", a name meaning "gifted".
A translation error occurred later in the 16th century, when Erasmus, the humanistic researcher, translated Hesiod's story about "Pandora" from Greek into Latin, translating the word "Pithos" as the same as the word "Pixes" which means box. Since then it has become known as "Pandora's Box".
The jar contained all kinds of evil in the world, and nowadays the phrase "opening Pandora's box" means doing something that seems small and innocuous to you, but that soon has dire consequences far-reaching and out of control.
The ancient Greek legend says that "Pandora" was the first woman on earth, where "Zeus", the leader of the gods, devised a plan to take revenge on "Prometheus" and decided to create a beautiful woman, so he summoned the goddess of beauty "Aphrodite" and asked her husband "Hephaestus", the god of creative craft to make it for him.
The other gods gave her several gifts: Athena dressed her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, Hormuz gave her speech, and Zeus breathed into her the spirit of life and sent her to earth.
The reason for Zeus' revenge on Prometheus is that the latter was helping humans with everything he could. He may misuse it and wreak havoc with it.
But Prometheus was sure that a good man would overcome bad things and profit from them for good, so he stole fire from the gods to give it to man, so Zeus decided to punish him cunningly, and so was the decision to create Pandora.
When Pandora came, Prometheus wanted her but refused her, because he knew it must be a trick from the gods. Zeus became angry and punished Prometheus and chained him to a rock.
The eagle bird came to him daily to feed on his meat. But
Prometheus' brother Epimetheus accepted Pandora to be his wife, and after they were married, Pandora was given beautiful vessels and instructions never to open them under any circumstances.
Out of curiosity, Pandora took the opportunity of her husband's sleep and opened the vessel, and all the evil that was in it was released from it and spread to all parts of the earth from hatred, envy, disease and all the bad that people did not know before, and when she rushed to close the vessel, all its contents were freed from it except for one thing. At its bottom was the spirit of hope, whose name was Elbis.
Then Pandora felt very sad about what she had done, and feared that she would face the punishment of "Zeus" because she did not keep her promise to him and her duty, yet "Zeus" did not punish her because he knew that this would happen to her.
ENCYCLOPEDIAPANDO′RA (Pandôra), i. e. the giver of all, or endowed with every thing, is the name of the first woman on earth. When Prometheus had stolen the fire from heaven, Zeus in revenge caused Hephaestus to make a woman out of earth, who by her charms and beauty should bring misery upon the human race (Hes. Theog. 571, &c.; Stob. Serin. 1). Aphrodite adorned her with beauty, Hermes gave her boldness and cunning, and the gods called her Pandora, as each of the Olympians had given her some power by which she was to work the ruin of man. Hermes took her to Epimetheus, who forgot the advice of his brother Prometheus, not to accept any gift from Zeus, and from that moment all miseries came down upon men (Hes. Op. et Dies, 50, &c.). According to some mythographers, Epimetheus became by her the father of Pyrrha and Deucalion (Hygin. Fab. 142; Apollod. i. 7. § 2 ; Procl. ad Hes. Op. p. 30, ed. Heinsius; Ov. Met. i. 350); others make Pandora a daughter of Pyrrha and Deucalion (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 23). Later writers speak of a vessel of Pandora, containing all the blessings of the gods, which would have been preserved for the human race, had not Pandora opened the vessel, so that the winged blessings escaped irrecoverably. The birth of Pandora was represented on the pedestal of the statue of Athena, in the Parthenon at Athens (Paus. i. 24. § 7). In the Orphic poems Pandora occurs as an infernal awful divinity, and is associated with Hecate and the Erinnyes (Orph. Argon. 974). Pandora also occurs as a surname of Gaea (Earth), as the giver of all. (Schol. ad Aristoph. Av. 970; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. vi. 39; Hesych. s.v.)
Source:
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
