Opening up Pandora’s box, a well known saying that I am sure you will recognise. In modern
times, it is a phrase that is used to suggest allowing trouble or complications into a situation.
But the origin of the phrase is much more literal, an explanation in Greek Mythology
of how evil was able to enter our world. But who was Pandora, and should she really carry
the blame for opening that famous box? Let’s find out together, right now.
To understand the origins of this myth, we need to go back to the beginning. The beginning
of mankind and the time before where only Gods and Titans existed.
Our story begins with two Titan brothers, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Prometheus possessed
the power of prophecy that revealed to him the fate of his kind, that Zeus would defeat
all the Titans. Deciding to cut out the middle man, the Titan brothers instead pledged their
loyalty directly to Zeus. Zeus was pleased and rewarded their loyalty
by granting them the task of creating the first creatures to live on the Earth. Epimetheus
formed the animals and gave each a special skill and form of protection. Prometheus took
his time molding man, and was left with no forms of protection since Epimetheus had already
given them all away. Prometheus knew man needed some form of protection and asked Zeus if
he could give man fire. Zeus angrily refused, stating simply that
fire was only for the Gods. Prometheus ignored the command however, and granted man fire
anyway. Zeus was furious and punished Prometheus with
a particularly grizzly method involving eagles and livers that forms the basis of another
famous tale from Greek Mythology, one that we will tell a different day.
However, despite the horrors of his famed torture, Zeus was still not content that it
was enough. The thunder god also believed that mankind should be punished for their
part in the crime, daring to accept the gift of fire.
Enter Pandora, the first woman on earth. Zeus ordered the creation of a woman, her
form moulded from clay as she was brought to life. Each of the God’s granted her a
gift, wisdom, beauty, kindness, peace, generosity and health, thus her name in Greek means ‘the
one who bears all gifts’. Presenting this glorious creature to Epimetheus
as his new wife, the Titan, despite being warned by his brother to suspect the tricky
of Zeus, was unable to resist, struck as he was by the beauty of Pandora.
As a wedding present, Zeus gave Pandora a box, warning her to never open it but not
explaining why. Pandora, who had been gifted curiosity during her creation, was destined
to be unable to resist, fulfilling the purpose of her formation just as Zeus had designed.
As she lifted the lid, she was immediately overcome with an intense fear as all the evils
of the world were released, greed, envy, hatred, pain, hunger, poverty, war, death – the
list goes on. Realising quickly what a terrible mistake she had made, Pandora slammed the
lid down. Only one thing remained in the box, unable now to escape. Hope.
Thus Pandora is now remembered as the woman who allowed all the evils into the world.
But how much can she really be blamed? Created out of spite by an angry God, moulded in such
a way as to react exactly as expected and open the box, was her fate ever truly her
own? A fascinating myth and another great example
of how these ancient stories continue to influence our world today.