Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Presented by:
Prof. Dr. Mr. Maqsood Hasni
Free Abuzar Barqi kutab'khana Aguest 2017
The First Woman on Earth
Painting by
John William Waterhouse
"...the woman opened up the cask ,And scattered pains
and evils among men."
Works and Days, Hesiod
QUICK INTRODUCTION
When Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods, was young and
trying to establish his rule, he was challenged by a group
of ferocious Titans, who tried to keep him from gaining
power. A long and terrible war ensued, with all the
Olympian gods joined against the Titans, who were led by
Cronus and Atlas.
After ten years of fighting, and with the help of the
Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires (The
Hundred-Handed-Ones), Zeus and his fellow Olympians
defeated the Titans. Only a few Titans, including Themis,
Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus, fought on the
side of Zeus - against their fellow Titans - and once Zeus
won, he rewarded them.
But soon Prometheus made Zeus very angry by stealing
fire from Mount Olympus and giving it to the race of
mortal men living on earth, who were cold and hungry.
Zeus had warned Prometheus not to give fire to men, and
was outraged that anyone had the nerve to ignore his
command.
Still, he would seem ungrateful if he appeared to forget
the importantrole that Prometheus and his brother
Epimetheus had played in the war against the Titans, and
he couldn't just kill the brothers, so he cunningly devised
a scheme to get even! PANDORA IS CREATED
In revenge, Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the god of smiths,
to craft a gorgeous woman out of earth and water. The
beautiful goddess of Love, Aphrodite, was asked to pose
as a model, just to make sure the woman was perfect.
Once this was done, the Four Winds (or some say
Hephaestus himself) breathed life into her and there she
lay sleeping, brand spanking new!
The first mortal woman on earth was to be bestowed
with unparalleled charm and beauty, and her unknown
mission would be to bring mischief and misery upon the
human race. Zeus then summoned the other Olympians
and asked them each to give this new creation a gift
Creation of Pandora, interior of Cylix,
470-460 B.C., British Museum,
London, England
Aphrodite adorned her with beauty, grace and desire;
Hermes, the Messenger god, gave her cunning and
boldness; Demeter showed her how to tend a garden;
Athena taught her manual dexterity and to spin; Apollo
taught her to sing sweetly and play the lyre; Poseidon's
gift was a pearl necklace and the god of the sea
promised her that she would never drown.
But Zeus also made her foolish, mischievous and idle.
This was the first woman, divine in appearance but quite
human in reality.
The gods called her Pandora, which means "All-gifted",
or "The gift of all", because each god had given her a
power by which she would work the ruin of man, and
because of the many presents bestowed upon her at
Olympus.
Lovely Pandora was created to become the wife of the
Titan Epimetheus, who was the not-very-bright brother
of Prometheus, the one who had gotten on Zeus' bad side.
Before sending her to earth, the gods held a big banquet
and Hermes, the Messenger god, presented Pandora with
a splendidly crafted jar (some say a box), adorned with
wonderful images. But Hermes warned Pandora that she
must never open the jar (box)!
She must NEVER open the box...And then Zeus' wife, Hera,
gave her the quality of curiosity! Tell me, is that fair?
They also gave her silvery raiment and a broidered veil,
and in her hair they placed bright garlands of fresh
flowers and a wonderful crown of gold. Her gowns were
most sumptuous and she was truly a vision from heaven.
When Pandora was finally brought out and shown to the
gods, resplendent in all the finery she had received,
great amazement and wonder took hold of them, such
was the effect of her beauty...
Desperate, Pandora took the box and locked it inside a
heavy wooden chest. She placed chains around the chest,
dug a hole, and buried it in her garden. With great effort
she rolled a huge boulder on top of the "grave",
determined to forget all about this object of her
obsession.
She couldn't sleep that night. No matter how she tried,
her thoughts kept returning to the buried golden box.
She put on her robe and went out to the garden. As if in a
trance, Pandora found herself drawn to the boulder. She
reached out and touched the stone and like magic it
moved, revealing the hole. This must be a sign from
Hermes!
"You must never open the box!" As she dug the earth to
get to the box, the Messenger god's words rang in her
mind. "Never open the box!"
Pandora wanted to obey the command of the gods, and
she really wasn't wicked, but at last she could no longer
contain her curiosity. Taking the little golden key from
around her neck, she fitted it into the keyhole and gently
opened the box. Just a tiny bit, so that she could have a
little peek, you see, and then she was going to close it up
again. Just a little, tiny peek...It was her wedding gift,
after all...
Painting by John William Waterhouse
Bad move. No sooner had Pandora opened the box, that
she realized her mistake. A foul smell filled the air and
she heard swarming and rustling inside. In horror she
slammed the lid shut, but alas it was too late! The evil had
been unleashed!
You see, the vindictive gods had each put something
harmful inside the box. All the plagues and sorrows
known to humanity were released once Pandora opened
the jar. Old Age, Sickness, Insanity, Pestilence, Vice,
Passion, Greed, Crime, Death, Theft, Lies, Jealousy,
Famine, the list went on and on...every evil, that until then
had been trapped inside the gift from the gods, was now
loosed upon the earth.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources:
References to Hesiod (Theogony 535-616 and Works
and Days 42-105) and Genesis are from my Classics
lecture handout - sorry, I can't give specific
bibliographic details.
Secondary Sources:
G.S. Kirk, Myth Its Meaning and Functions in
Ancient and Other Cultures (London, 1970) pp.
172-251
G.S. Kirk, The Nature of Greek Myths
(Harmondsworth, 1974) pp. 136-143
J.F. Nagy, 'The Deceptive Gift in Greek Mythology' in
Arethusa Vol. 14 (1981) pp. 191-204
J. O'Brien and W. Major, In the Beginning Creation
Myths from Ancient Mesopotamia, Israel and Greece
(1982) pp. 80-122
B.B. Powell, Classical Myth (Upper Saddle River,
2004) pp. 111-23
E.D. Reeder, 'Pandora' in Pandora Women in
Classical Greece, ed. E.D. Reeder (Baltimore, 1995)
pp. 277-279
E.D. Reeder, 'Women as Containers' in Pandora
Women in Classical Greece, ed. E.D. Reeder
(Baltimore, 1995) pp. 195-199
J-P. Vernant, Myth and Society in Ancient Greece,
trans. T. Lloyd (Brighton, 1980) pp. 168-85
F.I. Zeitlin, 'The Economics of Hesiod's Pandora' in
Pandora Women in Classical Greece, ed. E.D.
Reeder (Baltimore, 1995) pp. 49-55
Pandora,
the first woman on Earth
The woman was molded of earth and water and once the
body was ready, the Four Winds breathed life into it. She
was then given gifts from all the Olympian gods.
Aphrodite gave to her unparalleled beauty, grace and
desire. Hermes, the messenger god, gave her a cunning,
deceitful mind and a crafty tongue. Athena clothed her
and taught her to be deft with her hands. Poseidon
bestowed on her a pearl necklace that would prevent her
from drowning. Apollo taught her to play the lyre and to
sing. Zeus gave her a foolish, mischievous and idle
nature and last but not least, Hera gave her the wiliest
gift, curiosity. Thus, the first mortal woman was born
and she descended down to earth. Her name was
Pandora, meaning all-gifted, implying all the gifts she had
received from gods. Along with her, Hermes gave a
gilded and intricately carved box, a gift from Zeus with
an explicit warning that she must never open it, come
what may. Draped in raiment fit for the gods, she was
presented to Epimetheus, Prometheus' half-brother.
The days were passing quickly and the two were leading
a happy, married life but one thought was still at the
back of Pandoras mind: what was in the box that Zeus
had given her? She kept thinking that maybe the box had
money in it, nice clothes or even jewelry. Without thought
or reason, she would find herself walking past the box
and involuntarily reaching out to open it. Every time, she
was reminding herself that she had vowed never to open
the box. Heras gift of curiosity had worked and one day,
unable to take it any more, she decided to have just a
brief look inside. When nobody was around, she fitted a
golden key hanging around her neck to the lock on the
box. Turning the key slowly, she unlocked the box and
lifted the lid only for a while. Before she knew it, there
was a hissing sound and a horrible odor permeated the
air around her. Terrified, she slammed the lid down but it
was too late.
Pandora's box
Pandora was made of earth and water and Eve from the
rib of Adam, the first man on earth, who was in his turn
made of slay.
Another similarity is that they both disobeyed god:
Pandora opened the box and unleashed evil in the world
and Eve tempted Adam to eat the forbidden apple, against
Gods will.
T1.4
PANDORA,
T22.1 T22.2 T22.3 DANCING
PANDORA, PANDORA, PANDORA, SATYRS
HEPHAIST APHRODIT HEPHAIST
OS, E, ARES OS,
HERMES ATHENE
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 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 the
noble son of Iapetos [Prometheus] 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] formed of earth the
likeness of a shy maiden [i.e. Pandora] as the son of
Kronos willed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene
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 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, ike living
beings with voices: and great beauty shone out from it.
Zeus
Zeus wishes to punish mankind
Pandora s Box is an origin myth the attempt to explain
the beginning of something.
People have always wanted to know why things happen in
the world the way they do. Before there was much
science, they did not have much understanding of how
the world works, but they still wanted to know, just as
much as we do. Human curiosity always asks why .. and
then human creativity finds ways of giving an answer.
There are many myths, across all cultures, which
attempt to explain the beginnings of human beings and
why there are evil things like disease, hate and war in
the world. In many stories, these evils are released
because humans disobey gods.
You may like to compare the story of Pandora with the
story of Adam and Eve. Do you know any other similar
stories from other cultures?
Are there other versions of the story?
Pandora Creation
Pandora's Jar
Originally a Jar?
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 Pandoras 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 gods
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.
What does it mean to us today?
Pandora's Box