When I wrote Web Of Lies, Book 4 in my Goddesses In Love series, I introduced an intriguing character who was left in a horrible dilemma. The more I thought about how I left her hanging and how her story tied into all the others, the more I knew I had to write her version of what happened.
My tagline for this series is “History didn’t always give them a Happily Ever-After… it’s time to change that” and I felt that Pandora was done dirty and needed a better ending than she had received. The problem is, I’ve tied her happiness to ridding the world of ALL evil, which is a Herculean task, to say the least, especially in early 2025 when I drafted this post.
I’m not honestly sure when she will see her HEA, but the least I could do is clear her name of any wrongdoing since I believe she wasn’t the one who let the evils out of the “box” (which is technically a jar) in the first place. Here is what I learned as I researched Pandora for my prequel in the Goddesses In Love series, Pandora’s Curse.
Origins of Pandora
Pandora gets about as “origin” as it comes as it relates to humanity, but she actually came long after the Gods and Goddesses of Mt. Olympus had their tussle with the Titans, who had long before had their tussle with the Primordials. Talk about family drama! Anyway, after Prometheus helped with the creation of man, he made Zeus mad by giving humans the sacred knowledge of fire. That is when Zeus hatched the plan to create something for man that he couldn’t live without, but that would teach him a lesson. Yup, this is where the ladies came in. Well, at least first lady, since Pandora was packaged and branded as the first mortal woman by the King of the Gods.
Her name means “all gifted” or “all giving” and it is said that she was created by Hephaestus at the direction of his father, Zeus. Each God and Goddess gave her unique gifts or skills, which vary depending on the version of the story you read, but it seems as though the key players were Athena, Hermes, and a few of the Muses. After Hephaestus created her from clay, and the gifts were given, Zeus breathed life into her lungs and gave her the name Pandora.
Zeus knew better than to give her as a bride to Prometheus, since he had tied him to a rock for eternity, and had arranged to have his liver pecked out by an eagle for crossing him. Not really husband material. Besides, Prometheus didn’t trust Zeus, and rightly so. Instead of giving her to the God of “Forethought,” Zeus gave her to the God of “Afterthought,” Prometheus’s brother Epimetheus.
Epimetheus meant well, but he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box. I decided to correct that a bit as well since people in love are known to do some pretty silly things and that is how Epimetheus presented himself to me. He was a man completely smitten with his intended, a man that would do anything for the woman he loves. In that sense, it was precisely why Zeus sent Pandora to him directly as a bride, knowing full well with all her gifts and beauty, there was no way Epimetheus would turn her away. He was right, of course, and the rest is history. Through a chain of events, Pandora released the evils she had in the box (jar) she had brought as a dowry, and the world has never been the same since.
Pandora in Myth
Pandora’s Gifts
So who supplied the gifts and what were they? And a more important question in my mind was, why were there Titans in Olympus after the war? That is interesting to me and will be a question I respond to in future books. Hecate was still hanging around long after the war and was even given a place of honor by Zeus, which I find strange. But then there is Aphrodite who pre-dates the Titans and was sleeping with pretty much anyone she could without anyone even blinking at her behavior… so she is a blog post all on her own… maybe even a book. Hmmmm…
More on that later I do believe… in the meantime, Pandora.
According to Hesiod, the gifts were “beautiful and evil” and were bestowed upon the creation by the gods and goddesses of Olympus. According to his poem Theogony, Hephaestus, who had been the one to mold Pandora from clay, gifted her a pleasing shape. She was given beauty by Aphrodite, boldness and cunning, as well as lies and crafty words, by Hermes, who was also known as the trickster. Athena was a little more practical, giving her clothing, as well as teaching her how to weave and sew in order to make future apparel. Some muses also gave gifts such as necklaces, finery, and flower blooms for her hair.
In reading the poem, I couldn’t find a reference of a box or jar being given as a dowry, but it is clear that she was sent to man as a “beauteous evil.” While she was sent to punish man (because remember they had been given fire by Prometheus), Zeus also rewarded those who entered into marriage by promising the wives would be helpmates. My guess is Zeus didn’t really have much to do with that as much as Hera, who was the goddess of marriage. I would add if she had anything to do with it, I believe she would’ve made sure that Pandora was viewed as an equal partner since Hera impresses me as a woman who knows her own worth. Since men had lost their right to immortality along the way, and it would be women’s task to perpetuate the species, I could see her making it a little more palatable for the ladies. Little did she know it would just give Zeus another supply of mistresses in the future, although it’s possible she didn’t care what he did, but I haven’t written her story yet either, lol. So…
What about Pandora’s Box? Is it a Jar?
Was it a Box or a Jar? It seems likely it was the latter since the ancient Greeks stored items in earthen jars known as a pithos. However, considering that some of these jars were the size of humans, it makes me wonder if she would actually lug one of these around to meet her intended. Chances are no… but I’m sure those jars came in all shapes and sizes.
I found a reference to “Pandora’s Box” not really being a thing until it was mistranslated by Erasmus of Rotterdam in the 16th Century, according to Greeka.com. In my review of the poem’s text, specifically starting with line 570, where they talk about the lineage of women, I didn’t see reference to a box or a jar at all, but a statement that they “fashioned evil” from the Earth in the image of a modest maiden.
So honestly, the way I’m looking at it is that Pandora herself was the “container” and that now that the evils have been released, she holds the key to our path moving forward. That is how I wrote the story anyway, so you can be the judge. There are also references to the word “Elpis” engraved under the rim of a jar that held the evils, which is a word that translates to “Hope.” When I read that I knew precisely what she was carrying. If you look closely at my cover, you will find the word in the background. Sort of an easter egg from me to my readers.
Who was first?
There is a debate as to who the first woman was, and three names seem to rise to the top of the argument: Eve, Pandora, and Lilith. A lot of the stories that you see in Greek myth, in fairytales, and in the Bible, along with other historic documents, are very similar. For instance, the great flood has Noah putting his family and animals 2 x 2 onto an arc and repopulating the planet once the floodwaters recede. Similarly, Pandora‘s daughter, Phyrra, and her husband, Deucalion, were tasked with creating men and women by throwing stones over their shoulders onto the Earth after their great flood.
My guess is that each culture had a story to explain why there was evil and when those cultures converted into worshiping a single God, the narratives changed, as did the characters. I believe that Pandora and Eve both represent the first mortal woman, each in their own right. I also believe we probably did have a huge flood that wiped out a lot of big portion of life on the planet since so many cultures seem to reference it. It’s either that or an ancient immortal bard made his way around all of the continents, spreading the story and getting paid in mead. I like my version better than any old stuffy man’s thoughts on the subject, by the way. *Takes notes about a bard to add to a future story.*
Lilith is a character I’d like to dive into a little further and for the purposes of this post I will just say that it seems to me that the difference with her is she wasn’t considered mortal, whereas Eve and Pandora were formed by the Earth, and life was given to them for the sole purpose of being a partner to man. Lilith seems to be more of a goddess or demon, definitely a supernatural creature who the first mortal man maybe wanted to hook up with, but couldn’t handle her independent nature. My guess is Adam truly missed out on a good time… his loss, I guess.
Pandora Symbolisim
Sadly, the symbolism for Pandora’s Box boils down to the idea that curiosity kills the cat, so to speak. For the ancient Greeks, curiosity of men equaled progress, whereas the curiosity of women equaled destruction. In my humble opinion, from looking back on history, and perhaps some of the current happenings, it should be the other way around. I may be channelling a bit of Lilith with this statement, but I call it like I see it.
We have streaming music, jewelry, and characters present in Avatar by Disney or even in Percy Jackson and the Olympians all carrying the name. The businesses and creators that use her story, perhaps want to tap into the idea that all humans cling to. The knowledge that no matter how hard things get or what horrible things come at you, there is always hope. Like a lot of the stories from the past, the story of Pandora was a warning and a way to keep people from doing terrible things. It was a way to control the masses. Providing hope was the only way for that control to be soothed along the way to give people respite from their strife and worry. Hope is a powerful tool and like the ancient Greeks we’re still using it to this day. It’s the foundation of many religions we practice as humans.
My Pandora
The version of Pandora in my story grew from a cameo in Book 4, Web of Lies (And a mention at the end of Book 3, Athena’s Challenge). When considering her origin, I thought about all the gods and goddesses giving gifts to a woman that they felt would be helpful to a man. In my mind, they would have been giving her really helpful things and wonderful qualities that were God and Goddess level gifts. Right? So, if that were the case, she would’ve been a smart, beautiful, capable, incredible woman. Honestly, she would embody all the women I know in my life. In my mind, there is no way humanly possible she would have mistakenly opened any container that she was instructed not to, so that’s how I chose to write my story. And I really liked the idea of hope being the last thing left for us all, which I also included in her world in a very profound way.
It’s not a secret that I’m not a fan of the way women were treated in mythology (or in real life if you really want to get down to it), and that I am trying to correct that one reimagining at a time. If you are interested at all in that sort of thing, please follow this link to learn how to get this story for free by subscribing to my newsletter. I would love for you to read the story and get Pandora’s point of view as it was meant to be told.
In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about this fascinating character, you can check out the resources below.
Resources to check out:
Pandora: Unleashing Hell and Hope Upon Humanity – https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/pandora-goddess-who-unleashed-both-hell-and-hope-upon-humanity-002902
Pandora’s Box: Curiosity, Misfortune, and Hope (Greek Myth) – https://www.thecollector.com/pandora-box-greek-mythology/
Rittika Dhar, “Pandora’s Box: The Myth Behind the Popular Idiom”, History Cooperative, August 17, 2022, https://historycooperative.org/pandoras-box/. Accessed March 5, 2025
As always, thank you for sharing this journey with me, and for taking the time out of your day to read my thoughts. It means a lot. For anyone interested in my writing please feel free to stay awhile and poke around on my website. I have a ton of content I’ve been developing over the years and I would love to get your thoughts on it.
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As always, I hope this post finds you happy and healthy. Until next time! XO
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D.A. Henneman - Romance Author 
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