Welcoming the Woman
Zeus was unhappy with the strength men had gained from Prometheus's gift of fire. So he devised a scheme to inflict a powerful weakness upon men. Enter the woman. Until this time, according to the myths, mortal women did not exist.
Zeus ordered Hephaestus to fashion a woman from clay and water. The result was the greatest sculpture ever created. Just as man had been molded in the image of the gods, woman was molded in the image of the goddesses. As if this weren't enough, every deity contributed to Hephaestus's creation.
Woman was given beauty, along with lust, splendid clothes, lustrous jewelry, and the gifts of music, grace, dexterity, and charm. In addition, woman was given the arts of seduction, deceit, and guile. These traits combined to create a dangerous temptress that man would be unable to resist. Her name was Pandora.
Pandora's Box
As his gift to mankind, Zeus ordered Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to deliver Pandora to Epimetheus. Awestruck by her beauty and charm, Epimetheus accepted Pandora as his bride, even though his brother Prometheus had warned him to not accept gifts from Zeus.
The ancient myths vary in the telling of Pandora's Box. One myth says that the gods gave Pandora a sealed jar and told her it was a gift to man. They did not tell her, however, what the jar held, and it wasn't long before her curiosity got the better of her. Pandora opened the jar and out flew the plagues of mankind: disease, pain, sorrow, insanity, envy, and death. Hastily replacing the lid, Pandora trapped hope, which was all that remained in the jar.
Another myth states that all the evils of the world were kept in a jar or box in the house of Epimetheus (whether this container belonged to Epimetheus or Prometheus is unknown). Overcome by curiosity, Pandora snuck into the room and removed the lid. Again, out poured all the ills of mankind, leaving behind only hope, which did not escape.
The myth of Pandora's Box gave rise to a modern expression that describes a dangerous situation best left alone. If someone ever tells you that a situation is “a real Pandora's box,” they're saying that the situation is likely to lead to trouble and confusion.
Still other versions of Pandora's myth say that the box contained only good things: blessings that were a wedding present from Zeus. In these versions, Pandora's curiosity again overcame her and she opened the box carelessly. All of the blessings escaped and returned to the heavens, except for hope. With the loss of most of the blessings, humanity had to endure all the hardships and evils of the world with only hope as a consolation.
Whichever version of her myth you prefer, Pandora's curiosity left humanity virtually defenseless against the difficulties that plague human life — and so Zeus got his revenge.
