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“Pandora’s Box”
In the early days of the rule of Zeus and the other Olympian gods, following on from their success in the Titanomachy, the two Titans, Prometheus and Epimetheus, were charged with creating life forms to inhabit the earth. This task the two brothers completed through the use of clay. Epimetheus named all of the creatures and gave them individual characteristics. He ran out attributes though by the time he came to mankind. Thus Prometheus went amongst the gods and stole characteristics which he gave to man. He also stole the gift of fire from the workshop of Hephaestus, the blacksmith to the gods. Thus mankind was able to thrive and celebrate a carefree lifestyle.
This act of Prometheus, added to previous misdemeanours, angered Zeus, and so he sought out his own form of retribution. This retribution though was not straightforward, and began with Hephaestus creating the first woman out of metal. Zeus then breathed life into her, and the other gods gave her other gifts. Some of the gifts are thought of as being good, with the likes of beauty being given by Aphrodite; persuasiveness by Hermes; as well as intelligence and grace. There were though other gifts that are considered less positive, with Hermes also giving the gifts of cunning and the ability to lie, and Hera provided curiosity. The provision of these gifts resulted in the name of Pandora, being given to the first woman, Pandora meaning "all-gifted".
Once perfected, Pandora was then given to Epimetheus to be his wife. Epimetheus, had already been warned by Prometheus about accepting gifts from the gods, but still was a willing recipient of Pandora. This is where the term Pandora's Box commences, and within the household of Epimetheus was a large jar that contained all of the characteristics that Epimetheus had not found a suitable host for when he had been moulding man and beast. Other sources do say that the jar was a wedding gift from Zeus, but no matter where the jar had come from, Pandora was explicitly warned by Zeus, that to remain happily married she was never to look into the jar.
The marriage was a happy one but the curiosity that Hera had instilled in Pandora was slowly taking over. Eventually Pandora could not resist the temptation that was overcoming her, and so she released the jar's lid. At once all of the evil and bad characteristics instilled in it escaped. This meant sickness, suffering, diseases, war, hard labour, jealousy, greed and hatred escaped to make their way into the world. Pandora though tried desperately to close the lid of the jar, but by that time there was only one thing left in it, and that was Hope. With evil in the world, the easy life of mankind was over, and life was now a struggle where there was hard work involved just to survive.
The actions of Pandora, as well as releasing evil into the world, also ultimately caused the destruction of mankind.
Part I: Debrief Questions
1. If Zeus gave Pandora the gift of curiosity and then gave her a box, do
you think he knew she would open it? What did Zeus have in mind?
Why did he put the evils in the box?
2. Identify the elements of a divine myth that are present in “Pandora’s Box.”
3. What is the theme of this myth? Is it still relevant today?
Part II: Etymology
Use your notes to identify whether prefixes, suffixes, root form, or base words. Then, using your notes and a similar words, define the word as a whole.
Word / Prefixes, Suffixes, Root form, Base words / Similar words using prefixes, suffixes, etc. / Definition of derivations / Definition of wordPandora / Pan-
-dor- / Pandemonium
amador / all
give / all-giving
Prometheus
misdemeanour
retribution
explicitly
destruction