The first woman in the Hesiodic creation-account, crafted by Hephaestus from clay and gifted by every Olympian with a divine endowment. Sent to Epimetheus as bride; opened the pithos containing the evils that had previously been kept apart from humanity; only Hope remained when she replaced the lid. Mother of Pyrrha by Epimetheus — the genealogical bridge from primordial-creation-figure to the post-flood human line via Pyrrha's marriage to Deucalion. The "Pandora's box" mistranslation traces to Erasmus's Latin rendering of pithos as pyxis in the 16th century; the original Hesiodic vessel is a large storage-jar, not a small box.