Pandora (episode)

***Miscellaneous Myths: Pandora*** is the twenty-first episode of the *Miscellaneous Myths* series by Red. The myth summarized is that of the creation of mankind, Prometheus' stealing of fire from the gods to help men out, his punishment by Zeus for his defiance, and the creation of Pandora, the first mortal woman, specifically created so that she would be a source of all evil for the men who live on earth.

## Summary

Red says that mythology is a great field to study, getting an insight into ancient cultures and such, but once in a while you happen upon a myth that reminds you that this *is* an ancient culture after all, full of values dissonance and offending ideas toward an entire demographic Red herself belongs in (women). This is about the myth of Pandora, whose moral boils down to women being an evil created to torment men.

The myth begins with Prometheus, creator of mankind, enjoying life with his newly-created men. Life is good, people didn't die, everything was perfect. However, Prometheus noticed that when it came to offering sacrifices to the gods, the men were expected to offer the best part of the meat, keeping the lesser parts for themselves. So Prometheus concealed prime beef inside a gross-looking ox stomach, and a bone covered in fat that looked way more delicious than it actually was, and presented the two choices to Zeus. Zeus, of course, picked the nice-looking option, which was but a bone, setting the precedent of people sacrificing bones and fat to the gods while keeping the better parts of the meat.

Zeus was angry, and to confiscate men's fire supply as punishment. This made life significantly harsher for mortals, and so Prometheus, ever caring, stole fire from the gods and gave it back to mankind. Zeus didn't took long to notice, and punished Prometheus by chaining him up in the Caucasus, and sending an eagle to eat his liver. Prometheus, being an immortal god, did not die, and his liver regenerated each night, allowing the circle to continue each day.

As for men, Zeus had a different sort of punishment in mind. He commissions Hephaestus to sculpt a beautiful body out of clay, which is brought alive by the Four Winds. Athena dresses her up, Aphrodite gives her appeal, and Hermes teaches her how to lie, and all the gods give her virtues and flaws. She is named Pandora, which translates to "all-gifted" or "all-giving".

Pandora is beautiful and alluring, but secretly sly and cunning; Hesiod's idea of evil is "hot, but not dumb". Pandora is also given a pithos (a jar) in which all evils are concealed. Unlike later interpretations, which paint Pandora as a incurably curious ditz, in Hesiod's works there's nothing to suggest that Pandora is curious, or unaware of the jar's contains; this Pandora is *not* an idiot, which is why she is so evil.

That being said, Zeus takes Pandora (and her jar) to Epimetheus, Prometheus' foolish brother. Zeus offers Pandora as a bride to Epimetheus, and though he had been warned by Prometheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus, he agrees. Pandora then proceeds to dump out all the contents of the jar, and the evils are unleashed, like death, diseases, and Swedish fish. Only one thing, hope, remains inside the jar, as Epimetheus tries to chase after the evils in vain.

## Credits

In the credits, Red sings *You Give Love a Bad Name* by Bon Jovi, and says that essentially, Hesiod viewed women as Trojan Horses, beautiful containers of nothing but trouble.

## Characters appearing

Prometheus

Zeus

Hephaestus

Aphrodite

The Winds (Zephyrus, Boreas, Notus, Eurus)

Pandora

Athena

Hermes

Epimetheus