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Pandora
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{{Short description|Greek mythological figure}} {{Other uses|Pandora (disambiguation)}} [[File:Pandora - John William Waterhouse.jpg|thumb|''Pandora'' by [[John William Waterhouse]], 1896]] In [[Greek mythology]], '''Pandora'''{{efn-ua|[[Greek language|Greek]]: {{lang|grc|Πανδώρα}}, derived from {{lang|grc|πᾶν}}, ''pān'', i.e. "all" and {{lang|grc|δῶρον}}, ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving")<ref>{{LSJ|pa{{=}}s1|πᾶν}}, {{LSJ|dw{{=}}ron|δῶρον|ref}}; Evelyn-White, note to Hesiod, ''Works and Days'' Schlegel and Weinfield, "Introduction to Hesiod" [https://books.google.com/books?id=R6GqYRhaCCAC&pg=PA6 p. 6]; Meagher, [https://archive.org/details/meaningofhelenin0000meag/page/148 p. 148]; Samuel Tobias Lachs, "The Pandora-Eve Motif in Rabbinic Literature", ''The Harvard Theological Review'', Vol. 67, No. 3 (July 1974), pp. 341–345. {{JSTOR|1509228}}.</ref>}} was the first human woman created by [[Hephaestus]] on the instructions of [[Zeus]].<ref>"Scatter-brained [of Zeus the woman, the maiden whom he had formed." (Hesiod, ''[[Theogony]]'' 510 ff. (Hugh G. White, translator)</ref><ref name=PandoraBlDictOfClMythology>{{cite book|title=A concise dictionary of Classical Mythology |chapter=Pandora |author-first=Pierre |author-last=Grimal |author-link=Pierre Grimal|editor-first=Stephen |editor-last=Kershaw |others=A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop (translator)|publisher=Basil Blackwell Ltd |place=Oxford |year=1990 |isbn=0-631-16696-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim}}</ref> As [[Hesiod]] related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a [[White ground technique|white-ground]] ''[[Kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]]'' in the British Museum<ref>B.M. 1881,0528.1: [[White ground technique|white-ground]] cup from Nola, painted by the Tarquinia painter, c. 470–460 BC ([https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1881-0528-1 British Museum on-line catalogue entry])</ref>—is '''Anesidora''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀνησιδώρα}}), "she who sends up gifts"<ref>Harrison, ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion'' 3rd ed., 1922:281. If ''Anesidora/Pandora'' were already "all-gifted", this would be an instance of [[mythic inversion]].</ref> (''up'' implying "from below" within the earth). The Pandora myth is a kind of [[theodicy]], addressing the question of why there is evil in the world, according to which, Pandora opened a jar (''[[pithos]]''; commonly referred to as "[[Pandora's box]]") releasing all the evils of humanity. It has been argued that Hesiod's interpretation of Pandora's story went on to influence both Jewish and Christian theology and so perpetuated her bad reputation into the [[Renaissance]]. Later poets, dramatists, painters and sculptors made her their subject.
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