Pandora or the Creation of a Greek Eve

Abstract

Hesiod and others say that Pandora was the first woman ever born, and the female sex did not exist before her birth". This chapter starts the analysis with Hesiod's narration, continues with later literary, iconographical and philosophical representations. It then looks at the genealogical aspects. The myth of Pandora probably originated in Thessaly, reflecting that area's powerful position in seventh-century Greece. Unlike older Greek Urmanner, Pandora's genealogy already transcends the bounds of a single community and she is the ancestress of the whole Greek world. However, in this respect the Israelites were already more advanced, since Eve is the "mother of all living things" (Genesis 3.20). Like the male Israelites, the male Greeks ascribed the source of their present sorrow state to the creation of woman. Whereas before, men had shared the table of the gods, they now had to work for a living.Keywords: creation of woman; Genesis; Greek Eve; Greek Urmanner; Hesiod; Israelites; Pandora; Thessaly