After Hephaestus fashionetd her out of earth in the
image of Aphrodite, all the gods came forward to endow her with gifts.
All the Gods and Goddess presented her with presents which Zeus had carefully
calculated to bring about the downfall of man. Finally he had Hermes deliver
her to Epimetheus, the not-so-bright brother of Prometheus. Epimetheus
was utterly charmed by this marvelous creation, although he had been warned
by Prometheus never to accept a gift from Zeus. When beholding all her
charm he forgot his promise to his brother to think before acting, and
welcomed her in without questioning. Life was happy for Pandora and especially
so for Epimetheus. But already destiny was at work. In the house was a
beautful box that had been given to Pandora along with other gifts, but
she was forbidden ever to open it. Its unknown contents plagued Pandora
so much (Zeus had been given her curiosity along with everything else)
that one day while Epimetheus was away, she could stand the temptation
no longer and peeked into the box. Out swarmed all the calamities of mankind
-- from tidal waves to old age. It was too late to stop them as they spread
out through the window and across the world. Pandora dropped the lid back
in time to prevent the escape of hope, and no matter how bad things became
for people then and in the future, there was always hope.
Pandora, the first created woman, her name literally
means "All Gifts". After Prometheus had stolen fire from heaven and bestowed
it upon mortals, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a woman to counteract
this blessing. Apparently only men existed at this point, and Zeus had
other ideas for propagation. It is rather ironic that he saw the creation
of woman as a punishment.
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