Pandora is a mythical character who played a very important role in Greek society because she is said to have released all of the worlds badness with only a small consolation in return. She is what the Greeks believed to be the beginning of badness and evil in the world, two things not easily explained.
Pandora is widely recognized in Greek culture to be the first woman created: a parallel to the christian Eve. Her story is that of the innocent-but-curious woman who released everything bad into the world by mistake. As the story goes, Zeus, king of the gods, had become angry with humans and taken fire from them. This left them miserable, cold, unable to eat meat, and quite baffled as to the solution to their problem. One man, Prometheus, was very clever and hatched a plan to steal back fire…
First, Zeus commissioned his fellow gods to make a beautiful woman from clay and bring her to life. When this was done, he and all of the gods taught her how to behave and get on in society. Now, Zeus was ready to bring revenge to the world. He put Pandora on the earth and offered her in marriage to Prometheus brother, Epimetheus, who, though he had been warned not to, accepted Zeus beautiful gift and married Pandora. As a wedding present, Zeus gave the happy couple one thing: a small with a large lock and instructions never to open it under any circumstances. All was well until one day, eaten away with curiosity, Pandora could not restrain herself any longer: she opened the box, sending out awful things which were shaped like biting moths. Out flew such things as sickness, famine, and poverty, all biting Pandora and leaving her with awful wounds. At this she screamed out in pain and slammed the box shut, filled with regret for her actions. She was too late, though, for when her husband rushed in and found her with the box, all of the…
