In Classical Greek mythology dating to Hesiod, Pandora was the first human woman created by the deities, specifically by Hephaestus and Athena on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related the Pandora myth, each of the deities helped create her by giving her unique gifts. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mold her out of earth as part of the punishment of humanity for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire, and all them joined in offering her "seductive gifts."
According to the Hesiodic myth, however, instead of giving bountiful gifts, Pandora opened a jar (pithos), in modern accounts sometimes mistranslated as "Pandora's box", releasing all the evils of humanity leaving only Hope inside once she had closed it again. She opened the jar out of simple curiosity and not as a malicious act.