PANDORA - The First Woman of Greek Mythology Pandora Epimetheus and the birth of Pandora, Athenian red-figure amphora C5th B.C., Ashmolean Museum PANDORA was the first mortal woman who was formed out of clay by the gods. The Titan Prometheus was once assigned the task of creating the race of man. He afterwards grew displeased with the mean lot imposed on them by the gods and so stole fire from heaven. Zeus was angered and commanded Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and the other gods create the first woman Pandora, endowing her with beauty and cunning. He then had her delivered to Prometheus' foolish younger brother Epimetheus as a bride. Zeus gave Pandora a storage jar (pithos) as a wedding gift which she opened, releasing the swarm of evil spirits trapped within. These would forever after plague mankind. Only Elpis (Hope) remained behind, a single blessing to ease mankind's suffering. Pandora's daughter Pyrrha (Fire) was the first child born of a mortal mother. She and her husband Deukalion (Deucalion) were the sole survivors of the Great Deluge.

To repopulate the earth they were instructed to cast stones over their shoulder which formed a new race of men and women. The creation of Pandora was often depicted in ancient Greek vase painting. She appears as either a statue-like figure surrounded by gods, or as a woman rising out of the earth (called the anodos in Greek). Sometimes she is surrounded by dancing Satyroi (Satyrs) in a scene from a lost Satyr-play by Sophokles. FAMILY OF PANDORA PARENTS NONE (created by the gods) (Hesiod Works & Days 54, Hesiod Theogony 560, Aeschylus Frag 204, Sophocles Pandora, Pausanias 1.24.7, Hyginus Fabulae 142) OFFSPRING [1.1] PYRRHA (by Epimetheus ) (Apollodorus 1.46, Hyginus Fabulae 142) [1.2] PYRRHA (Strabo 9.5.23) ENCYCLOPEDIA PANDO′RA (Pandôra), i. e.

the giver of all, or endowed with every thing, is the name of the first woman on earth. When Prometheus had stolen the fire from heaven, Zeus in revenge caused Hephaestus to make a woman out of earth, who by her charms and beauty should bring misery upon the human race (Hes. Theog. 571, &c.; Stob. Serin. 1). Aphrodite adorned her with beauty, Hermes gave her boldness and cunning, and the gods called her Pandora, as each of the Olympians had given her some power by which she was to work the ruin of man. Hermes took her to Epimetheus, who forgot the advice of his brother Prometheus, not to accept any gift from Zeus, and from that moment all miseries came down upon men (Hes. Op. et Dies, 50, &c.). According to some mythographers, Epimetheus became by her the father of Pyrrha and Deucalion (Hygin. Fab. 142; Apollod. i. 7. § 2 ; Procl. ad Hes. Op. p. 30, ed. Heinsius; Ov. Met. i.

350); others make Pandora a daughter of Pyrrha and Deucalion (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 23). Later writers speak of a vessel of Pandora, containing all the blessings of the gods, which would have been preserved for the human race, had not Pandora opened the vessel, so that the winged blessings escaped irrecoverably. The birth of Pandora was represented on the pedestal of the statue of Athena, in the Parthenon at Athens (Paus. i. 24. § 7). In the Orphic poems Pandora occurs as an infernal awful divinity, and is associated with Hecate and the Erinnyes (Orph. Argon. 974). Pandora also occurs as a surname of Gaea (Earth), as the giver of all. (Schol. ad Aristoph. Av. 970; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. vi. 39; Hesych. s.v.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES The creation of Pandora, Athenian red-figure kylix C5th B.C., British Museum Hesiod, Works & Days 54 ff (trans.

Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "The gods keep hidden from men the means of life [i.e. fire] . . . Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him; therefore he planned sorrow and mischief against men. He hid fire; but that the noble son of Iapetos stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it. But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger : ‘Son of Iapetos, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire--a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be. But I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.’ So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud.

And he bade famous Hephaistos (Hephaestus) make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene (Athena) to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argos, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature. So he ordered. And they obeyed the lord Zeus the son of Kronos (Cronus). Forthwith [Hephaistos] the famous Lame God moulded clay in the likeness of a modest maid, as the son of Kronos purposed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene girded and clothed her, and the divine Kharites (Charites, Graces) and queenly Peitho (Persuasion) put necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich-haired Horai (Horae, Seasons) crowned her head with spring flowers.

And Pallas Athene bedecked her form with all manners of finery. Also [Hermes] the Guide, the Slayer of Argos, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech in her. And he called this woman Pandora (All-Gifts), because all they who dwelt on Olympos gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread. But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer [Hermes], the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood.

For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills (kakoi) and hard toil (ponoi) and heavy sickness (nosoi) which bring the Keres (Fates) upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly. But the woman took off the great lid of the jar (pithos) with her hands and scattered all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Elpis (Hope) remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aigis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the rest, countless plagues (lugra), wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases (nosoi) come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus." Hesiod, Theogony 510 ff (trans.

Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "Scatter-brained Epimetheus who from the first was a mischief to men who eat bread; for it was he who first took of Zeus the woman [i.e. Pandora], the maiden whom he had formed." Hesiod, Theogony 560 ff : "[Zeus] was always mindful of the trick [of Prometheus, who had won for mankind the meat of the sacrificial beast,], and would not give the power of unwearying fire to the Melian race of mortal men who live on the earth. But [Prometheus] the noble son of Iapetos outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk. And Zeus who thunders on high was stung in spirit, and his dear heart was angered when he saw amongst men the far-seen ray of fire. Forthwith he made an evil thing for men as the price of fire; for the very famous Limping God [Hephaistos (Hephaestus)] formed of earth the likeness of a shy maiden [i.e.

Pandora] as [Zeus] the son of Kronos (Cronus) willed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene (Athena) girded and clothed her with silvery raiment, and down from her head she spread with her hands an embroidered veil, a wonder to see; and she, Pallas Athene, put about her head lovely garlands, flowers of new-grown herbs. Also she put upon her head a crown of gold which [Hephaistos] the very famous Limping God made himself and worked with his own hands as a favor to Zeus his father. On it was much curious work, wonderful to see; for of the many creatures which the land and sea rear up, he put most upon it, wonderful things, like living beings with voices : and great beauty shone out from it. But when he had made the beautiful evil to be the price for the blessing, he brought her out, delighting in the finery which the bright-eyed daughter of a mighty father had given her, to the place where the other gods and men were.

And wonder took hold of the deathless gods and mortal men when they saw that which was sheer guile, not to be withstood by men. For from her is the race of women and female kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no helpmeets in hateful poverty, but only in wealth. And as in thatched hives bees feed the drones whose nature is to do mischief--by day and throughout the day until the sun goes down the bees are busy and lay the white combs, while the drones stay at home in the covered hives and reap the toil of others into their own bellies--even so Zeus who thunders on high made women to be an evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil. And he gave them a second evil to be the price for the good they had: whoever avoids marriage and the sorrows that women cause, and will not wed, reaches deadly old age without anyone to tend his years, and though he at least has no lack of livelihood while he lives, yet, when he is dead, his kinsfolk divide his possessions amongst them.

And as for the man who chooses the lot of marriage and takes a good wife suited to his mind, evil continually contends with good; for whoever happens to have mischievous children, lives always with unceasing grief in his spirit and heart within him; and this evil cannot be healed. So it is not possible to deceive or go beyond the will of Zeus: for not even the son of Iapetos, kindly Prometheus, escaped his heavy anger, but of necessity strong bands confined him, although he knew many a wile." The creation of Pandora, Athenian red-figure calyx krater C5th B.C., British Museum Homer, The Iliad 24. 527 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "There are two urns (pithoi) that stand on the door-sill of Zeus. They are unlike for the gifts they bestow: an urn of evils (kakoi), an urn of blessings (dôroi). If Zeus who delights in thunder mingles these and bestows them on man, he shifts, and moves now in evil, again in good fortune.

But when Zeus bestows from the urn of sorrows, he makes a failure of man, and hte evil hunger drives him over the shining earth, and he wanders resepected neither of gods nor mortals." [N.B. Later writers say that Zeus gave one of these two jars to Pandora. The poets were at odds as to which jar she received--Hesiod says it was the jar of evils (kakoi), but Theognis and Aesop claim it was the jar of blessings (dôroi). The name Pan-dôra ("all-gifts") perhaps suggests the latter.] Theognis, Fragment 1. 1135 (trans. Gerber, Vol. Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy C6th B.C.) : "Elpis (Hope) is the only good god remaining among mankind; the others have left and gone to Olympos. Pistis (Trust), a mighty god has gone, Sophrosyne (Restraint) has gone from men, and the Kharites (Charites, Graces), my friend, have abandoned the earth.

Men's judicial oaths are no longer to be trusted, nor does anyone revere the immortal gods; the race of pious men has perished and men no longer recognize the rules of conduct or acts of piety." [N.B. Theognis' account is the reverse of Hesiod's--the good spirits escape from Pandora's jar, abandoning mankind in their flight back to heaven.] Aesop, Fables 526 (from Babrius 58) (trans. Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) : "Zeus gathered all the useful things together in a jar and put a lid on it. He then left the jar in human hands. But man had no self-control and he wanted to know what was in that jar, so he pushed the lid aside, letting those things go back to the abode of the gods. So all the good things flew away, soaring high above the earth, and Elpis (Hope) was the only thing left. When the lid was put back on the jar, Elpis (Hope) was kept inside.

That is why Elpis (Hope) alone is still found among the people, promising that she will bestow on each of us the good things that have gone away." [N.B. "Human hands" alludes to the story of Pandora who delivered the jar to mankind. In this version, however, it is apparently her husband who opens it.] Aesop, Fables 525 (from Chambry 1) (trans. Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) : "The Good Things were too weak to defend themselves from the Bad Things, so the Bad Things drove them off to heaven. The Good Things then asked Zeus how they could reach mankind. Zeus told them that they should not go together all at once, only one at a time. This is why people are constantly besieged by Bad Things, since they are nearby, while Good Things come more rarely, since they must descend to us from heaven one by one." [N.B. This fable describes the spirits which had escaped from Pandora's jar.

It also refers to the two jars set beside the throne of Zeus in the Iliad--one containing Good Things and the other Evils.] Epimetheus, Pandora and Eros (detail), Athenian red-figure amphora C5th B.C., Ashmolean Museum Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 250 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Prometheus : Yes, I caused mortals to cease foreseeing their doom (moros). Chorus : Of what sort was the cure that you found for this affliction? Prometheus : I caused blind hopes (elpides) to dwell within their breasts. Chorus : A great benefit was this you gave to mortals." [N.B. This is presumably a reference to Pandora's jar--a curse concocted by Zeus to punish mankind for the theft of fire.

Prometheus seems to be saying that he was the one who stayed Hope inside the jar when all the other spirits escaped.] Aeschylus, Fragment 204 (from Proclus, Commentary on Hesiod's Works and Days 156) : "A mortal woman from out a seed moulded of clay [i.e Pandora]." Sophocles, Pandora (lost play) (C5th B.C.) : Sophocles wrote a Satyr-play entitled Pandora or Sphyrocopi which dramatised the story of the first woman. Plato, Protagoras 320c - 322a (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) : "Prometheus stole the mechanical arts of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and Athene (Athena), and fire with them (they could neither have been acquired nor used without fire), and gave them to man . . . But Prometheus is said to have been afterwards prosecuted for theft, owing to the blunder of Epimetheus [i.e. because he accepted Pandora from Zeus]." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 46 (trans.

Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Prometheus had a son Deukalion (Deucalion), who was king of the lands round Phthia and was married to Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, the first woman created by the gods." Euphorion of Chalcis, Fragments (trans. Page, Vol. Select Papyri III, No. 121 (2b)) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "Pandora, donor of evil (kakodôros), man's sorrow self-imposed." Strabo, Geography 9. 5. 23 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[The region of] Thessalia (Thessaly). But speaking of it as a whole, I may say that in earlier times it was called Pyrrhaia (Pyrrhaea), after Pyrrha the wife of Deukalion (Deucalion) . . . But some writers, dividing it into two parts, say that Deukalion obtained the portion towards the south and called it Pandora after his mother [i.e.

his mother-in-law], and that the other part fell to Haimon (Haemon), after whom it was called Haimonia (Haemonia), but that the former name was changed to Hellas, after Hellen the son of Deukalion, and the latter to Thessalia, after the son of Haimon." [N.B. Pyrrha was the daughter of Pandora and wife of Deukalion. Deukalion named various parts of Thessalia after his wife and mother-in-law.] Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 24. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "On the pedestal [of the statue of Athena on the Akropolis in Athens] is the birth of Pandora in relief. Hesiod and others have sung how this Pandora was the first woman; before Pandora was born there was as yet no womankind." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 142 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Prometheus, son of Iapetus, first fashioned men from clay.

Later Vulcanus [Hephaistos], at Jove's [Zeus'] command, made a woman's form from clay. Minerva [Athene] gave it life, and the rest of the gods each gave come other gift. Because of this they named her Pandora. She was given in marriage to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pyrrha was her daughter, and was said to be the first mortal born." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 7. 7 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[Aion (Time) addresses Zeus :] ‘But, some may say, a medicine [Hope] has been planted to make long-suffering mortals forget their troubles, to save their lives. Would that Pandora had never opened the heavenly cover of that jar--she the sweet bane of mankind!’" ANCIENT GREEK ART The Meaning of Pandora's Box - Zeus's Curse on Mankind By N.S. Gill Updated October 28, 2016. A "Pandora's box" is a metaphor in our modern languages, and the proverbial phrase refers to a source of endless complications or trouble arising from a single, simple miscalculation.

Pandora's story comes to us from ancient Greek mythology , specifically a set of epic poems by Hesiod , called the Theogony and Works and Days. Written during the 7th century BC, these poems relate how the gods came to create Pandora and how a gift given to her by Zeus ultimately ends the Golden Age of humankind. The Story of Pandora's Box According to Hesiod, Pandora was a curse on mankind, as retribution after the titan Prometheus stole fire and gave it to humans. Zeus had Hermes hammer the first human woman--Pandora--out of the earth. Hermes made her lovely as a goddess, with the gift of speech to tell lies, and the mind and nature of a treacherous dog. Athena dressed her in silvery clothing and taught her weaving; Hephaestus crowned her with a marvelous golden diadem of animals and sea creatures; Aphrodite poured grace on her head and desire and cares to weaken her limbs.

continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States Pandora was to be the first of a race of women, the first bride and a great misery who would live with mortal men as companions only in times of plenty, and desert them when times became difficult. Her name means both "she who gives all gifts" and "she who was given all gifts". Never let it be said that Greeks had any use for women in general. All the Ills of the World Then Zeus sent this beautiful treachery as a gift to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus , who ignored Prometheus's advice to never accept gifts from Zeus. In the house of Epimetheus, there was a jar--in some versions it too was a gift from Zeus--and because of her insatiable greedy woman's curiosity, Pandora lifted the lid on it. Out from the jar flew every trouble known to humanity. Strife, sickness, toil, and myriad other ills escaped from the jar to afflict men and women forever more. Pandora managed to keep one spirit in the jar as she shut the lid, a timid sprite named Elpis, usually translated as "hope." Box, Casket or Jar?

But our modern phrase says "Pandora's box": how did that happen? Hesiod said the evils of the world were kept in a "pithos", and that was uniformly employed by all Greek writers in telling the myth until the 16th century AD. Pithoi are huge storage jars that are typically partly buried in the ground. The first reference to something other than a pithos comes from the 16th-century writer Lilius Giraldus of Ferrara, who in 1580 used the word pyxis (or casket) to refer to the holder of evils opened by Pandora. Although the translation was not exact, it is a meaningful error, because a pyxis is a 'whited sepulchre', a beautiful fraud. Eventually, the casket became simplified as "box". Harrison (1900) argued that this mistranslation explicitly removed the Pandora myth from its association with All Souls Day , or rather the Athenian version, the festival of Anthesteria .

The two-day drinking festival involves opening wine casks on the first day (the Pithoigia), releasing the souls of the dead; on the second day, men anointed their doors with pitch and chewed blackthorn to keep the newly released souls of the departed away. Then the casks were sealed again. Harrison's argument is bolstered by the fact that Pandora is a cult name of the great goddess Gaia . Pandora is not just any willful creature, she is the personification of earth itself; both Kore and Persephone, made from the earth and rising from the underworld. The pithos connects her to the earth, the box or casket minimizes her importance. The Meaning of the Myth Hurwit (1995) says that the myth explains why humans must work to survive, that Pandora represents the beautiful figure of dread, something for which men can find no device or remedy. The quintessential woman was created to beguile men with her beauty and uncontrollable sexuality, to introduce falsehood and treachery and disobedience into their lives. Her task was to let loose all the evils on the world, while trapping hope, unavailable to mortal men.

Pandora is a trick gift, a punishment for the good of Promethean fire, she is, in fact, Zeus's price of fire. Brown points out that Hesiod's story of Pandora is the icon of archaic Greek ideas of sexuality and economics. Hesiod didn't invent Pandora, but he did adapt the story to show that Zeus was the supreme being who shaped the world and caused the misery of the human lot, and how that caused human descent from the original bliss of a carefree existence. Pandora and Eve At this point, you may recognize in Pandora the story of the Biblical Eve . She too was the first woman, and she too was responsible for destroying an innocent, all-male Paradise and unleashing suffering ever after. Are the two related? Several scholars including Brown and Kirk argue that the Theogony was based on Mesopotamian tales, although blaming a woman for all the evils of the world is definitely more Greek than Mesopotamian. Both Pandora and Eve may well share a similar source.

Sources 1000+ images about ~ Pandora's Box ~ on Pinterest | Pandoras box, Pandora and Greek mythology Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas ~ Pandora's Box ~ Artistic renditions of Pandora and Pandora's Box. When Pandora opened her box, she unleashed all the evils of the world; hate, greed, death, illness... All that remained was hope. Thank you for sharing :) ~ J. Johanis -- Preview my novel at 68 Pins8.64k Followers Behind the Name: User Comments for the name Pandora Key: Meaning/History Usage Pronunciation Famous Bearer Personal Impression Other Comments are left by users of this website. They are not checked for accuracy. A gorgeous name, but would never use it due to its unfortunate stigma. -- Mommy2B 4/6/2005 I love this name, I think it is beautiful, and I am going to change my name to this a.s.a.p., especially because of what it brings to mind. -- i_love_bam 4/19/2005 Well... what can I say about this name? This is my name, and my sister gave me it.

I think she didn't realize the meaning at first, because she just took the name from one of her friends. But anyway, I love it, because it is my name. -- Belle Enfant 6/16/2005 This is my daughter's name. I think it is beautiful and has a beautiful meaning (without the box). It is the Greek mythology version of the Christian Adam and Eve and there are plenty of 'Eve's out there. BTW we call her "Panda" as a nickname, however outsiders are only allowed to call her Pandora. She is 6 and loves her name and is far from evil, she is a good child and very talented and beautiful like I imagine 'Pandora' was meant to be. -- DAWNRA 7/25/2005 I think people forget that when Pandora opened the box and released all the evils into the world, she also released Hope, which was the last to leave the box. -- ravencel 11/20/2005 Might I remind some of you out there, Pandora was not evil. She was simply over-curious.

However, as ravencel reminded us, Pandora did release hope into the world along with the evil spirits. -- avalah 5/5/2006 I named my teddy bear Pandora. It was funny, though, because someone was putting it in a box and they said, "I'm going to put her in Pandora's Box now." -- sqirrlie 6/18/2006 I think this is a pretty name, but in all the versions I have read, she clapped the lid on just in time to keep hope from escaping, as the other things would quickly have destroyed it. If I'm wrong feel free to correct me, but this is what I have read. -- nelirosala 6/28/2006 It is true, Pandora closed the box in time to keep hope, which is why I think the name is beautiful. It somehow means that against all evils we must remain with hope. Also a Latin group was called Pandora. -- CBarras 1/2/2007 Pandora does have a stigma, but it's still a beautiful name.

Besides, Pandora was not doing anything malevolent when she opened the box and unleashed the pains of the world; she was just curious. She did not mean for any harm; why should she be branded? -- gaelruadh19 1/9/2007 I don't see where the stigma comes from. She was essentially another version of Eve, and no one seems to avoid the name Eve because she ate the fruit. -- Anonymous User 5/26/2007 Pandora closed the box when she saw which kind of things that were in it, but then she heard a voice from the box, which said it was hope, and that she should let it out. She trusted the voice and from the box hope flew out in the shape of a butterfly. So in some way Pandora could mean faith or trust because she trusted the unknown voice from the box and it turned out to be a good thing. -- Kris-tine 6/17/2007 Adrian Mole, in the Sue Townsend books, is deeply smitten by Pandora, but nothing good comes of it in the long run.

This has more to do with the character of Adrian than the meaning of the name, though she certainly represented "all gifts" to him. -- Anneza 7/11/2007 Not an ugly name, but I'd never use it on a girl. Too overdone. If I had a business such as a club or a boutique I might name it Pandora, but again never on a girl. -- Anonymous User 12/16/2007 The myth of Pandora is a misogynous one, which tries to prove than women brought about all misfortunes on earth, very much like Eve did. All the major classic cultures have founding myths like this. However, the detail that she was able to keep hope in the box is more lenient towards women. -- carenmuffin 12/25/2007 Sorry, but it sounds tacky. I can't forget how some Swedish dance pop singer used this as her pseudonym in the 90s, and it rather does sound like a pseudonym for a pop singer or a stripper. It's a little too ''out there''. Pandora's other name was Anesidora.

Supposedly this was the name that was inscribed on her body when she was made from the earth. -- Anonymous User 9/26/2008 This is the name of one of the twins in a book called Gemini by whom I can't remember. Her twin brother was named Peter. Haha. -- _0TophasNails_1 11/17/2008 Is instantly recognizable as the name of one of the main characters in Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole books. Pandora is Adrian's enduring and unattainable love interest, she is highly intelligent and politically minded. Adrian liked to call her Pan as a diminutive, her full name was actually Pandora Louise Elizabeth Braithwaite. -- arabesque 12/31/2008 It's weird but I like this name a lot. I think it's nice. It's sort of on my "I love this name, but I'd never name my child this because it's too strange" list. -- becca_marciano 3/4/2009 Stigma? What stigma?

(From the Ancient Greeks' point of view) If it weren't for Pandora, we wouldn't have hope, and the happiness hope brings, in the face of evil. Now, imagine our world without such evils, but also without hope. Kind of boring, isn't it? -- Anonymous User 4/16/2009 The meaning doesn't seem so terrible when you actually think of a world without anything bad in it. Without badness there would be no goodness, or at least no one would recognize or appreciate the goodness. Why do all these stigma-attached names have to be so pretty? I love the names Pandora, Lilith, Lolita, Jezebel, Delilah, Desdemona, etc but would be hesitant about ever naming a child one of these. -- imbidubi 4/29/2009 Pandora's name means 'gifted by everyone'. She was made by Hephaestus (Greek for Vulcan). All gods and goddesses gave her gifts like beauty, artistic gifts, etc. She was send to earth as punishment for human being. There was also another Pandora, an ancient goddess of the earth. "Pandora" sounds demonic... satanic... black... evil.

A perfect choice for your precious little angel, eh? -- Anonymous User 6/3/2011 Okay. To the point. It would completely suck if people called you Dora. -- Anonymous User 12/21/2012 Pandora Moon is a character from the British teen drama Skins, and is sometimes called 'Panda' as a nickname. -- jeannie. 4/9/2013 A character on 'American Dad' has this name, but she's a minor character, only showed a few times. And I know I'm not a 'famous bearer' but I also have this name. -- pepper256pasta 12/14/2013 I hope people learn the facts about this name soon. Pandora's Box is just an incorrect translation. The original Greek word for the Pandora's "box" was pithos and a pithos is a large JAR. So I don't see how a large jar can be turned into a perverted comment. Pandora was also not evil or satanic, she was just curious much like Eve was.

People don't see Eve as an evil being so I have no clue how some people come to this conclusion about Pandora. I think it is a lovely name and I will personally be using it if our baby coming this September is a girl. -- RainbowVixen 3/6/2014 You guys are speaking about these myths as if they were true! Lol It's kinda funny to me really. There was no girl that opened any box or jar full of evil and hope. Come on people! The sound and look of this name are both quite nice. -- C.Ambrosi 6/23/2014 My name is Pandora :) I think it's a lovely name considering it's not used much here in England. Mates don't tease me at all, they love my name! I usually go by Nora or Panda. I never get called Dora. -- crowsandlionhearts 7/27/2014 She shut the lid before it was too late, leaving the last evil locked inside. Because it was kept inside, we have hope. If it were released, we would all know our miserable futures and probably not go on living. I love the name.

-- Sakusha 10/20/2014 This is my given name. It has it highs and it lows. As a child I was picked on mainly because it was different. As a young woman, well you can imagine all the lovely comments I would receive from men. I love my name and my nickname has been Panda- I hate Dora and Pan. The name has made me strong and independent, quick witted, sarcastic and tolerant of ignorance. With what I learned in Art History the past few years, I am even more grateful that my parents chose a significant name for me. Having a Art History Minor Greek Mythology is a fascination of mine and Pandora in Greek Mythology is like Eve to the Christian world. "PANDORA was the very first woman who was formed out of clay by the gods. The Titan Prometheus had originally been assigned with the task of creating man. But because he was displeased with their lot, stole fire from heaven. Zeus was angered, and commanded Hephaistos and the other gods to create a woman, Pandora, and endow her with the beauty and cunning. He then delivered her to Epimetheus, the foolish younger brother of Prometheus, for a bride.

When he had received her into his house, Pandora opened the pithos (storage jar) which Zeus had given her as a wedding present, and released the swarm of evil spirits trapped within. They would ever afterwards plague mankind. Only Elpis (Hope) remained behind, a single blessing to succor mankind in their suffering. Pandora's daughter Pyrrha (Fire) was the first-born mortal child. She and her husband Deukalion alone survived the Great Deluge. To repopulate the earth they each cast stones over their shoulder. Those cast by Deukalion formed men, and those of Pyrrha women." -- Pandoraly 12/30/2014 There seems to be a lot of negativity surrounding this name for no reason other than some have misunderstood the myth of Pandora's box, but because others have already commented with the appropriate corrections I won't get into it myself. I have a certain fondness for Greek Mythology, which is why I especially love this name, but I also just think it sounds lovely, and I would have no objections with naming someone Pandora!

ELPIS - Greek Goddess or Spirit of Hope (Roman Spes) ELPIS Translation Hope, Expectation ELPIS was the personified spirit (daimona) of hope. She and the other daimones were trapped in a jar by Zeus and entrusted to the care of the first woman Pandora . When she opened the vessel all of the spirits escaped except for Elpis (Hope) who remained behind to comfort mankind. Elpis was depicted as a young woman carrying flowers in her arms. Her opposite number was Moros , the spirit of hopelessness and doom. FAMILY OF ELPIS Perhaps a child of NYX, though nowhere stated OFFSPRING PHEME (Sophocles Oedipus the King 151) CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES Hesiod, Works & Days 54 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "[Zeus] hid fire; but [Prometheus] that the noble son of Iapetos stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk . . . But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger : ‘. . .

I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.’ So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade famous Hephaistos (Hephaestus) make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape . . . When he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer [Hermes], the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood. For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills (kakoi) and hard toil (ponoi) and heavy sickness (nosoi) which bring the Keres (Fates) upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly.

But the woman took off the great lid of the jar (pithos) with her hands and scattered all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Elpis (Hope) remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aigis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the rest, countless plagues (lugra), wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases (nosoi) come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus." Pindar, Fragment 214 (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "With him liveth sweet Elpis (Hope), the nurse of eld, the fosterer of his heart--Elpis (Hope), who chiefly ruleth the changeful mind of man." Theognis, Fragment 1. 1135 (trans. Gerber, Vol.

Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy C6th B.C.) : "Elpis (Hope) is the only good god remaining among mankind; the others have left and gone to Olympos (Olympus). Pistis (Trust), a mighty god has gone, Sophrosyne (Restraint) has gone from men, and the Kharites, my friend, have abandoned the earth. Men's judicial oaths are no longer to be trusted, nor does anyone revere the immortal gods; the race of pious men has perished and men no longer recognize the rules of conduct or acts of piety. But as long as man lives and sees the light of the sun, let him show piety to the gods and count on Elpis (Hope). Let him pray to the gods and burn splendid thigh bones, sacrificing to Elpis (Hope) first and last." [N.B. Theognis' account is the inverse of Hesiod's--the good spirits escaped from Pandora's jar, abandoning mankind in their flight to heaven.] Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 250 ff (trans.

Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Prometheus : Yes, I caused mortals to cease foreseeing their doom (moros). Chorus : Of what sort was the cure that you found for this affliction? Prometheus : I caused blind hopes (elpides) to dwell within their breasts. Chorus : A great benefit was this you gave to mortals." [N.B. This is presumably a reference to Pandora's jar, a curse concocted by Zeus to punish mankind for the theft of fire. Prometheus seems to be saying that he was the one who stayed Hope inside the jar, when the other evils escaped.] Sophocles, Oedipus the King 151 ff (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Chorus : O sweetly-speaking message of Zeus, in what spirit have you come to glorious Thebes from golden Pytho? I am on the rack, terror shakes my soul, O Delian healer [oracular Apollon] to whom wild cries rise, in holy fear of you, wondering what debt you will extract from me, perhaps unknown before, perhaps renewed with the revolving years.

Tell me, immortal Phama (Report), child of golden Elpis (Hope)." Aesop, Fables 526 (from Babrius 58) (trans. Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) : "Zeus gathered all the useful things together in a jar and put a lid on it. He then left the jar in human hands. But man had no self-control and he wanted to know what was in that jar, so he pushed the lid aside, letting those things go back to the abode of the gods. So all the good things flew away, soaring high above the earth, and Spes/Elpis (Hope) was the only thing left. When the lid was put back on the jar, Elpis (Hope) was kept inside. That is why Elpis (Hope) alone is still found among the people, promising that she will bestow on each of us the good things that have gone away." [N.B. In the extant Latin version of this fable Eplis is translated as Spes.] Ovid, Heroides 2. 9 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C.

to C1st A.D.) : "Spes (Hope), too, has been slow to leave me; we are tardy in believing, when belief brings hurt." [N.B. Spes, the Roman counterpart of Elpis, had a temple in Rome.] Nonnus, Dionysiaca 7. 7 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[Aion (Father Time), addresses Zeus :] ‘But, some may say, a medicine [i.e. Elpis (Hope)] has been planted to make long-suffering mortals forget their troubles, to save their lives. Would that Pandora had never opened the heavenly cover of that jar--she the sweet bane of mankind!’" SOURCES Greek Goddesses | The Broom Closet The Broom Closet Look who fell out of the closet! July 16, 2013 Posted in Goddess Project , Goddess Things tagged First Woman , Goddess Pandora , Greek Goddesses , Pandora's Box , Pandora's Jar at 7:45 am by Babs In Greek mythology, Pandora (“all gifted”) was the first woman, fashioned by Zeus as part of the punishment of mankind for Prometheus’ theft of the secret of fire.

According to the myth, Pandora opened a container releasing all the miseries of mankind – greed, vanity, slander, envy, pining – leaving only hope inside. The myth of Pandora is very old, appears in several distinct versions, and has been interpreted in many ways. In all literary versions, however, the myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world. Hesiod, both in his Theogony (briefly, without naming Pandora outright, line 570) and in Works and Days, ca. 700 BCE, has a very early version of the Pandora story. In modern times, Pandora’s Box has become a metaphor for the unanticipated consequences of technical and scientific development. The evidence of the vase-painters reveals another, earlier aspect of Pandora. The Myth According to Hesiod The titan Epimetheus (“hindsight”) was responsible for giving a positive trait to each and every animal. However, when it was time to give man a positive trait, there was nothing left. Prometheus (“foresight”), his brother, felt that because man was superior to all other animals, man should have a gift no other animal possessed.

So Prometheus set forth to steal fire from Zeus and handed it over to man. Zeus was enraged and decided to punish Prometheus and his creation: mankind. To punish Prometheus, Zeus chained him in unbreakable fetters and set an eagle over him to eat his liver each day, as the eagle is Zeus’s sacred animal. Prometheus was an immortal, so the liver grew back every day, but he was still tormented daily from the pain, until he was freed by Heracles during The Twelve Labors. Another possible reason for Prometheus’s torment was because he know which of Zeus’s lovers would bear a child who would eventually overthrow Zeus. Zeus commanded that Prometheus reveal the name of the mother, but Prometheus refused, instead choosing to suffer the punishment. To punish mankind, Zeus demanded that the other gods make Pandora as a poisoned gift for man.

Pandora was given several traits from the different gods: Hephaestus molded her out of clay and gave her form; Athena clothed her and the Charities adorned her with necklaces made by Hephaestus; Aphrodite gave her beauty; Apollo gave her musical talent and a gift for healing; Demeter taught her to tend a garden; Poseidon gave her a pearl necklace and the ability to never drown; Zeus made her idle, mischievous, and foolish; Hera gave her curiosity; Hermes gave her cunning, boldness, and charm. Thus the name Pandora – all gifts – in Hesiod’s version derives from the fact that she received gifts from all deities. The most significant of these gifts, however, was a pithos or storage jar, given to Pandora either by Hermes or Zeus. Before he was chained to the rock, Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to take any gifts from the gods. However, when Pandora arrived, he fell in love with her. Hermes told Epimetheus that Pandora was a gift to the titan from Zeus, and he waned Epimetheus not to open the jar, which was Pandora’s dowry. Until then, mankind lived life in a paradise without worry.

Epimetheus told Pandora never to open the jar she had received from Zeus. However, Pandora’s curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind: “For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills [kakoi] and hard toil [ponoi] and heavy sickness [nosoi argaleai] which bring the Keres [baleful spirits] upon men; for in time to keep one thing in the jar: hope. The world remained extremely bleak for an unspecified interval, until Pandora “chanced” to revisit the box again, at which point Hope fluttered out. Thus, mankind always has hope in times of evil. In another, more philosophical version of the myth, hope [Elpis] is considered the worst of the potential evils, because it is equated with terrifying foreknowledge. By preventing hope from escaping the jar, Pandora in a sense saves the world from the worst damage. The daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was Pyrrha, who married Deucalion and was one of the two who survived the deluge.

Problems and Mistranslation Most scholars contend that Pandora’s “box” is a mistranslation, and her “box” may have been a large jar or vase, forged from the earth, perhaps because of similarities in shape between a jar and a woman’s uterus. There is also evidence to suggest that Pandora herself was the “jar”. The mistranslation is usually attributed to the 16th Century Humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam when he translated Hesiod’s tale of Pandora. Hesiod uses the word “pithos” which refers to a jar used to store grain. It is possible that Erasmus confused “pithos” with “pyxis” which means box. The scholar M.L. West has written that Erasmus may have mixed up the story of Pandora with the story found elsewhere of a box which was opened by Psyche. The original Greek text from 700 BC of Hesiod’s Works and Days, whence we get the earliest extant story of Pandora and the jar, does not specify exactly what was in the box Pandora opened. M.L.

West has written that the story of Pandora… pandoapoakdook… and her jar is from a pre-Hesiodic myth, and that this explains the confusion and problems with Hesiod’s version and its inconclusiveness. He writes that in earlier myths, Pandora was married to Prometheus, and cites the ancient Catalogue of Women as preserving this older tradition, and that the jar may have at one point contained only good things for mankind. He also writes that it may have been that Epimetheus and Pandora and their roles were transposed in the pre-Hesiodic myths, a “mythic inversion”. He remarks that there is a curios correlation between Pandora being made out of earth in Hesiod’s story, to what is in Apollodorus that Prometheus created man from water and earth. (Appolodorus, Library and Epitome, ed. Sir James George Frazer.) Interpretations The story of Pandora’s Box can be interpreted in more than one way, but is often thought to be a version of “curiosity killed the cat”.

Various feminist scholars believe that in an earlier set of myths, Pandora was the Great Goddess, provider of the gifts that made life and culture possible, and that Hesiod’s tale can be seen as part of a propaganda campaign to demote her from her previously revered status. For an alternate view of Pandora, see Charlene Spretnak’s Lost Goddesses of Early Greece; A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Mythology, 1978. The presence of hope in a jar full of evils for mankind raises questions about whether Hope is a comfort for the evil mankind experiences, or whether the hope for something better must be interpreted as the damnation of mankind. Pandora As Depicted By the Vase-Painters Jane Ellen Harrison turned to the repertory of vase-painters to shed light on aspects of myth that were le ft unaddressed or disguised in literature. The story of Pandora was repeated on Greek ceramics. On a fifth century amphora in the Ashmolean Museum the half-figure of Pandora emerges from the ground, her arms upraised in the epiphany gesture, to greet Epimetheus.

A winged Ker with a fillet hovers overhead: “Pandora rises from the earth; she is the Earth, giver of all gifts,” Harrison observes. On another vase showing the fashioning of Pandora she is inscribed with her alternate name: [A]nesidora (“who sends up gifts”). “Pandora is form or title of the Earth-goddess in the Kore form, entirely humanized and vividly personified by mythology.” and she quotes a scholium on a passage of Aristophanes mentioning a sacrificed white fleeced ram to Pandora: “to Pandora, the earth, because she bestows all things necessary for life”. Thus Harrison concludes “in the patriarchal mythology of Hesiod her great figure is strangely changed. She is no longer Earth-born, but the creature, the handiwork of Olympian Zeus.” In Summary Pandora plays an intriguing role in Greek mythology. According to the most well-known legend, she was the first woman, created by the ruler of the gods, Zeus.

Zeus was assisted in this task by other Greek deities, including Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, who used her powers to bestow upon Pandora grace and loveliness; Hermes, messenger of the gods, gave Pandora persuasion; and Apollo, god of music and the arts, favored the woman with musical skill. Because of the gifts of the gods, Pandora was very attractive – her name even means “all gifts”. However, Pandora had a flaw. She was curious. When she encountered a jar that belonged to Epimetheus, she could not resist learning about its mysterious contents, and so she therefore opened it. This jar contained all of the evils, which were then released into the world. The only thing that remained in the jar was hope. She, as the first woman, created after man, is sometimes compared to Eve in Hebrew myth. Pandora was originally a title of the goddess Rhea (the name means all gifts) – but the story of Pandora and her jar (not box) was more the anti-feminine invention of the poet Hesiod. But even if Pandora had a jar and not a box, women as portrayed in ancient art are forever putting things tidily away in boxes of various kinds.

There’s even the myth of Danae, where she and her son Perseus were themselves tidied away in a box and dumped at sea. Francois Lissarague has discussed the idea that the box is symbolic of women’s life in Athens – she was to a large extent herself seen as a container – for the sperm, for the child, who spent most of her life in a container (house) designed for the purpose of allowing no unauthorized person to open the box. There is a second myth which is less known that says Zeus created Pandora, in good faith, to be a blessing to man. Zeus sent with her box containing the marriage presents, which were given by every god. Pandora, being curious, opened the box and all the blessings flew out, save one, Hope. It is said that the second myth seems more logical, for how could Hope be stored in the same container as all manner of evil and illness. Unlike today’s associations with Pandora, we need to remember that this goddess’ name mans “all-giver” or “sender of gifts”. And when the evils of the world threaten, let us not forget that Pandora’s box still, and always, holds hope.

Share this: Posted in Goddess Project , Goddess Things tagged Fertility Goddess , Goddess Demeter , Goddess of Agriculture , Goddess Persephone , Grain Goddess , Greek Goddesses at 9:46 am by Babs Demeter, in Greek mythology, was the Goddess of corn and the harvest. When her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, God of the underworld, Demeter’s grief was so great that she refused to be goddess of the grain any longer. Her neglect of the land meant no plants grew, and famine devastated the earth. She neither ate nor slept, she roamed land and sea and refused to give her up for lost – her dedication to the search devastating herself and the earth. Demeter is the Goddess of the earth, agriculture and fertility in general. Sacred to her are livestock and agricultural products, poppy, narcissus and the crane. She is the mother of Persephone by Zeus. During the months Persephone lives with Hades, Demeter withdraws her gifts from the world, creating winter. Upon Persephone’s return, spring comes into bloom.

Other names and titles: Achaiva – Spinner, Amphictyonis – name at Anthela, Achaea – name in Athens, Ceres in Roman Mythology. Her celebration, 27th March, is actually shared by two Goddesses: Demeter Goddess of the Earth, and Selene Goddess of the Moon. It represents the creation of Selene and the moment Demeter was granted power oer the earth. The Goddess Demeter was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians in the form of Isis; to the Romans she was known as Ceres; and people in both ancient and modern times speak of Gaea, the earth, she is Demeter. Demeter chooses to appear older than most other Goddesses, somewhere in her mid 50s. She has a full figure and rich golden hair the color of ripened corn, and she wears it plaited like a coronet, though sometimes this is covered by a veil. Demeter radiates dignity. Her eyes are most unusual: a mixture of blue and green and grey. She wears a long, loose-flowing pale blue gown. Demeter features in one of the most dramatic of mythical tales: the abduction of Persephone by Hades.

“I am the mighty Goddess Demeter. As the weeks pass my name will become more familiar. Mortals need instructing on farming and I am the one to do it. I have spoken and explained much and many are changing their methods. Although it takes longer, the old way of plowing a field was much better for the earth than the way it is now done. Oil seeps into the soil from machines; chemicals poison the earth. The use of weed killers and pesticides must stop. That is why there are so many strange illnesses that were not known in the past. Those that destroy nature’s balance whether it be on land or sea will not be allowed the freedom that they hope will be theirs. Those responsible will be punished, and in some cases severely. There will be retribution. Those who experiment and develop deadly chemicals for agricultural use will pay in full until they abandon this.” Although Demeter may be the original ‘earth mother’, and people might assume her to be the kind and gentle Goddess of our planet, make no mistake she is fierce.

For nearly two years our team members were dragged through fields, withered with chemicals and burned along with stubble, the objective, explained Demeter, was for a mortal to literally experience what the chemicals and other modern agricultural practices felt like. For those moments the team-members experienced what the earth experienced and it was both frightening and painful. When Demeter makes threats, take them seriously. “When mortals worshipped us centuries ago they grew flowers and crops without all this. The crops grew in abundance. Now with all this the crops are not as healthy and mortals endanger their own health yet think they are overriding nature. That can never happen. This is why I am trying to influence mortals as much as I can. I am the great Demeter and I will succeed. There were many ceremonies for me in the old days and fertility rites performed. That was not necessary. In days long gone there was celebration, much feasting and drinking of wine at festivals. Entire villages were very merry, full of good food and wine. It grieves me tha this practice was not continued.

Through the mists of time I have been forgotten, but mortals will again become aware of my presence.” The Skirophoria, which is also known simply as the Skira, is somewhat of a mystery to us now. We know that there was a procession that included the priestess of Athena, a priest of Poseidon, and a priest of Appollon. They began at the Acropolis and took the Sacred Way towards Eleusis, ending at the Kephisos River. Eleusis is of course the center of the cult of Demeter and Kore, and it was here that their mysteries were celebrated. There was also a women’s ritual honoring Demeter on this day, in which pigs were sacrificed to her. The participants were supposed to avoid sexual contact, and were said to eat much garlic as a “turn-off” to their husbands. As the goddess of grain and fertility, Demeter played an important – indeed essential – role in ancient Greek society. The Greeks, like most ancient cultures, relied upon agriculture for their sustenance. As the patron deity of agriculture, Demeter was accordingly worshipped with festivals such as Thesmophoria and other honors.

Likewise, her association with grain also translated into a close relationship with human fertility, as this was another crucial part in continuing survival. There are, consequently, many myths dealing with Demeter in her capacity as a fertility goddess. Perhaps the most poignant of these myths is the so-called Homeric Hymn to Demeter, in which the story of the goddess and the loss of her daughter Persephone is told. The Hymn to Demeter is thought by scholars to be not only a myth about the abduction of Persephone and the consequent anger of Demeter – it also alludes to aspects of the mystery cult referred to as the Eleusinian Mysteries. This cult falls more properly into the realm of Greek religion, rather than myth, so it will not be discussed in any detail here. However, as it is an integral aspect of the worship of Demeter, it should at least be mentioned in this context. In addition to the myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, another intriguing tale that involves the goddess of fertility is her affair with the mortal Iasion.

According to the version told by the poet Hesiod, Demeter and the hero “coupled with passion on a field plowed three times, in the rich soil of Crete.” Apparently, this legendary liaison with Iasion was quite a fruitful one, for Demeter became pregnant and eventually bore her human lover a son named Plutus. The goddess Demeter was known as Ceres in Roman mythology. Suggested Mantra: Determination I can achieve my dreams I am determined to succeed I am a success in all that I do I believe in my dreams and desires Lives are made better by my efforts I find my path following my inclinations I am allowed to stop and appreciate the quiet Gemstones: Pandora’s Box: April 2012 Pandora’s Box ‘Opening Pandora’s Box’ is a metaphor for our time. It is a story about how one of two brothers, Epimetheus, is seduced by appearances and his own desires. He did not have the forethought to look into the true nature of what he saw, or to understand the implications of his actions beyond himself. The moral of the story is that once the Earth is opened, she cannot be closed, and what we spoil we spoil forever.

Mining the last remaining wildernesses and the critical ecosystems of our Earth is irreversible. The other brother, in the story, Prometheus, warns us that hindsight is too late and hoping for the best is ignorant and impotent. What the story recommends is foresight: from this come the gifts of a true civilisation and right relation towards the Earth, our source of life. Posted by Opening the pandora's box (pandora trying to close the box) This is an engraving of Pandora trying to close the box that she had opened out of curiosity. At left, the evils of the world taunt her as they escape. The engraving is based on a painting by F.S. Church. Posted by Hesiod's Works and Days (Hesiod's poem) The more famous version of the Pandora myth comes from another of Hesiod's poems, Works and Days . In this version of the myth (lines 60–105), Hesiod expands upon her origin, and moreover widens the scope of the misery she inflicts on mankind.

As before, she is created by Hephaestus, but now more gods contribute to her completion (63–82): Athena taught her needlework and weaving (63–4); Aphrodite "shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs" (65–6); Hermes gave her "a shameful mind and deceitful nature" (67–8); Hermes also gave her the power of speech, putting in her "lies and crafty words" (77–80) ; Athena then clothed her (72); next she, Persuasion and the Charites adorned her with necklaces and other finery (72–4); the Horae adorned her with a garland crown (75). Finally, Hermes gives this woman a name: Pandora – "All-gifted" – "because all the Olympians gave her a gift" (81). In this retelling of her story, Pandora's deceitful feminine nature becomes the least of mankind's worries.

For she brings with her a jar (which, due to textual corruption in the sixteenth century, came to be called a box) containing "burdensome toil and sickness that brings death to men" (91–2), diseases (102) and "a myriad other pains" (100). Prometheus had (fearing further reprisals) warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus. But Epimetheus did not listen; he accepted Pandora, who promptly scattered the contents of her jar. As a result, Hesiod tells us, "the earth and sea are full of evils" (101). One item, however, did not escape the jar (96–9): Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house, she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not fly away. Before [she could], Pandora replaced the lid of the jar. This was the will of aegis-bearing Zeus the Cloudgatherer. Hesiod does not say why hope (elpis) remained in the jar.

Hesiod closes with this moral (105): "Thus it is not possible to escape the mind of Zeus Posted by Hesiod's Theogony (Hesiod) The Pandora myth first appears in lines 560–612 of Hesiod's poem in epic meter, the Theogony (ca. 8th–7th centuries BC), without ever giving the woman a name. After humans received the stolen gift of fire from Prometheus, an angry Zeus decides to give men a punishing gift to compensate for the boon they had been given. He commands Hephaestus to mold from earth the first woman, a "beautiful evil" whose descendants would torment the race of men. After Hephaestus does so, Athena dresses her in a silvery gown, an embroidered veil, garlands and an ornate crown of silver. This woman goes unnamed in the Theogony, but is presumably Pandora, whose myth Hesiod revisited in Works and Days. When she first appears before gods and mortals, "wonder seized them" as they looked upon her.

But she was "sheer guile, not to be withstood by men." Hesiod elaborates (590–93): From her is the race of women and female kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no helpmates in hateful poverty, but only in wealth. Hesiod goes on to lament that men who try to avoid the evil of women by avoiding marriage will fare no better (604–7): He reaches deadly old age without anyone to tend his years, and though he at least has no lack of livelihood while he lives, yet, when he is dead, his kinsfolk divide his possessions amongst them. Hesiod concedes that occasionally a man finds a good wife, but still (609) "evil contends with good." Posted by (pandora) In Greek mythology, Pandora (ancient Greek, Πανδώρα, derived from πᾶς "all" and δῶρον "gift", thus "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first woman. As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts.

Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mold her out of earth as part of the punishment of mankind for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire, and all the gods joined in offering her "seductive gifts". Her other name, inscribed against her figure on a white-ground kylix in the British Museum, is Anesidora, "she who sends up gifts," up implying "from below" within the earth. According to the myth, Pandora opened a jar (pithos), in modern accounts sometimes mistranslated as "Pandora's box" (see below), releasing all the evils of mankind — although the particular evils, aside from plagues and diseases, are not specified in detail by Hesiod — leaving only Hope inside once she had closed it again. She opened the jar out of simple curiosity and not as a malicious act. The myth of Pandora is ancient, appears in several distinct Greek versions, and has been interpreted in many ways. In all literary versions, however, the myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world.

In the seventh century BC, Hesiod, both in his Theogony (briefly, without naming Pandora outright, line 570) and in Works and Days, gives the earliest literary version of the Pandora story; however, there is an older mention of jars or urns containing blessings and evils bestowed upon mankind in Homer's Iliad: The immortals know no care, yet the lot they spin for man is full of sorrow; on the floor of Zeus' palace there stand two urns, the one filled with evil gifts, and the other with good ones. He for whom Zeus the lord of thunder mixes the gifts he sends, will meet now with good and now with evil fortune; but he to whom Zeus sends none but evil gifts will be pointed at by the finger of scorn, the hand of famine will pursue him to the ends of the world, and he will go up and down the face of the earth, respected neither by gods nor men Posted by How did the myth arise? It arose as a way of explaining why dreadful things happened, such as people getting sick and dying. As in many origin myths, man had lived in a world without worry – until this jar / box was opened, which contained ills for mankind.

Zeus knew that Pandora’s curiosity would mean that she could not stop herself from opening it, especially when he had told her that she must not do so! Many other myths also explain the ills of the world by saying they are caused by human disobedience of a god’s instructions. (Though some versions of this story say that the box was a real gift and the box held good things for mankind, which Pandora let escape from the box, and fly away forever, only catching Hope.) Even Hope itself has been argued about by scholars – not everyone agreeing that it is a great good – that maybe Zeus meant it as an evil also – otherwise it would not have been in a jar of evil. Others believe that Zeus may have relented a little, and put Hope in to help mankind through the hard times that the other ‘gifts’ would bring. Posted by Story of pandora's box Pandora was given a box or a jar, called “pithos” in Greek. Gods told her that the box contained special gifts from them but she was not allowed to open the box ever. Then Hermes took her to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus, to be his wife.

Prometheus had advised Epimetheus not to accept anything from the Gods, but he saw Pandora and was astonished by her beauty, thus he accepted her right away. Pandora was trying to tame her curiosity, but at the end she could not hold herself anymore; she opened the box and all the illnesses and hardships that gods had hidden in the box started coming out. Pandora was scared, because she saw all the evil spirits coming out and tried to close the box as fast as possible, closing Hope inside. Posted by Mythology (pandora getting dressed) In classical Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on Earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the God of craftsmanship, to create her, so he did—using water and Earth. The gods endowed her with many gifts: Athena clothed her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, and Hermes speech. (Prometheus stole fire from heaven) When Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Epimetheus, Prometheus' brother. With her, Pandora was given a beautiful container which she was not to open under any circumstance. Impelled by her curiosity given to her by the gods, Pandora opened it, and all evil contained therein escaped and spread over the earth.

She hastened to close the container, but the whole contents had escaped, except for one thing that lay at the bottom, which was the angel of Hope named Astrea. Pandora was deeply saddened by what she had done, and was afraid that she would have to face Zeus' wrath, since she had failed her duty; however, Zeus did not punish her, because he knew this would happen. Posted by

Question: In Greek mythology when Pandora opened her box (actually jar), all the evil spirits escaped, and only Elpis, goddess of (what?) remained?
Answer: Hope