Goddess of beneficence - all-giver, or all-gifted since she was said to have been endowed with skills and graces by the gods. The version given by the poet Hesiod has her conveying a pot (not a box as in post-antique art) of ills for mankind (her husband-to-be is Epimetheus) and releasing them, withholding only Hope. This is not a subject for ancient art. She was worshipped in Athens more as purveyor of skills for mankind from the gods. She is shown rising from the ground, or being dressed by Athena and Hephaistos (and other gods, on the base of the Athena Parthenos).
Above: Birth of Pandora. Detail from Attic red-figure clay vase, about 475-425 BC. Oxford. Ashmolean Museum G275. Photo. Beazley Archive © Beazley Archive, Ian Hiley
