Pandora's Box - Exploring the Dark Side of the Ancient Greek MythA story about how a young woman's curiosity caused the world to experience sorrow, death, and sadness, but also hope.
Pandora's Box was a jar given to Pandora, the first woman on Earth, with strict instructions not to open it. Driven by curiosity, Pandora eventually opened the jar, releasing all the evils of the world - such as sickness, death, and turmoil - leaving only hope inside once she closed it again. This myth explains the origin of human suffering and the enduring presence of hope amidst adversity.
In ancient Greece, there were two brothers named Epimetheus and Prometheus. They displeased the gods, especially Zeus, the most powerful of all. Zeus had already disciplined people by removing their capacity to generate fire as a punishment; thus, this wasn't the first time. As a result, they could not cook their meat or stay warm.
Yet Prometheus was a cunning man, aware that Hephaestos, the blacksmith, resided on the Isle of Lemnos. To keep his forge hot, he had a fire going. Prometheus went to Lemnos and took the blacksmith's fire. Zeus is enraged and decides that humanity should be punished for their disrespect once and for all.
Zeus devised a clever scheme to punish the two brothers. He made a woman out of clay with Hephaestos' assistance. The goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hermes subsequently gave life to the clay, who also taught her how to be seductive and deceptive. Zeus gave her the name Pandora and gave her to Epimetheus as a gift.
Epimetheus is deeply enamoured with the woman and feels that she is so lovely that she can never do any harm, so he decides to marry her despite his brother Prometheus's warning not to take any gifts from the gods.
Zeus handed Pandora a lovely box as a wedding present as a sign that his trap was successful. She was not allowed to open the box, though, which was a crucial condition. While she had never vowed to open the box, Pandora was quite curious about what was within.
What might be in the box was all she could think about. She didn't see why someone would send her a package if she couldn't see what was inside. She thought it made no sense and had no choice but to open the box and discover what was inside. Zeus had intended for this to happen.
Pandora eventually had enough of it. When she realised Epimetheus had disappeared, she snuck over to the box, grabbed the enormous key from the top shelf, gently inserted it into the lock, and turned it. She hurriedly closed the box without opening the lid and placed the key back where she had found it, but at the last second, she felt a sense of guilt and thought how furious her husband would be. She repeated these three more times before realising she had to see inside; otherwise, she would go insane.
After inserting the key into the lock, she turned it. She inhaled deeply, shut her eyes, and raised the box's cover gradually. She opened her eyes and peered into the box, expecting to see expensive silks, dresses, gold jewellery, piles of gold coins, or perhaps magnificent gold bracelets and necklaces.
There was no sign of wealth or treasure, though. There was not a single lovely garment, not any sparkling jewellery! She initially had an excited expression, but it swiftly changed to sadness, then dread. Zeus filled the box with every dreadful horror he could think of. The box opened, and disease and poverty spilt forth. Death, suffering, and sadness all emerged as angry wasps.
Pandora repeatedly got stung by the wasps before slamming the lid shut. Epimetheus rushed inside the room to find out why she was sobbing in despair. Pandora could still hear a voice pleading with the box to let her out. They opened the lid once more because Epimetheus agreed that nothing inside the box could be worse than the horrors already set forth.
Hope was the only thing still inside the box. It emerged from the box like a delicate dragonfly, mending the wounds caused by the malicious monsters. Although Pandora had brought anguish and pain upon the world, she had also let Hope go along with them.
