Pandora’s Box

For a long time, according to all accounts of the story of creation, only men were upon the earth; there were no women. Zeus created women later, in his anger at Prometheus for caring so much for men. Prometheus had not only given the gift of fire to men but also arranged they be well fed with the best meat from the best animals on earth. To punish him, Zeus chained Prometheus in unbreakable fetters and set an eagle over him to peck at his liver day after day. Because Prometheus was immortal, however, his liver grew back with each new day. For many, many years Prometheus suffered daily.

To weaken the race of men Prometheus had empowered, Zeus made a great evil for him, a sweet and lovely thing to look upon, in the likeness of a shy maiden. This maiden wore in her hair a bright garland of blooming flowers wrapped around a crown of gold. She was a wonder to behold, and all the gods gave her gifts. Hephaestus molded her curvy figure out of clay, Aphrodite granted her beauty, Athena adorned her in rich clothes, Apollo blessed her with musical talent, Demeter made her a master gardener, Poseidon made her impervious to drowning, Hermes gave her wit, and Hera cursed her with curiosity. They called the maiden Pandora, whose name means “the gift of all,” and from Pandora, the first woman, came the race of women.

When Pandora, a treacherous treasure in herself, had been perfected with every gift and arrayed in all her loveliness, she was taken down to earth by Hermes and given to Prometheus' foolish brother Epimetheus. The gods had sent with her a great box, telling her to guard it closely but to never even think of opening it.

Now Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept anything from Zeus, even if it looked like a gift sent in friendship; but as usual Epimetheus ignored these warnings and acted upon his impulses. He accepted the maiden from Hermes and led her into his house.

For a while Pandora lived with Epimetheus and did not dare to open the box. But her task soon became too much for Pandora, for she, like all women, was possessed of a lively curiosity. She at last could no longer take not knowing the box’s contents and lifted the lid to peek inside. At that moment, she unleashed all of mankind’s sorrows, for in the box each god had stored the worst thing he was able to give. Out of the box flew plagues of innumerable sorrow, sadness, and mischief for mankind. In terror Pandora quickly clapped the lid down, but it was too late. A black stinking cloud of evil crept into the world in a pestilent plague of sickness, suffering, jealously, greed, lust, hate, anger, madness and all of the other cruel sins that damn mankind.

One good thing, however, had escaped—the only good the box had held among its many evils, and to this day mankind’s sole comfort in misfortune—the spirit of Hope.