Episode 23 - Pandora's Box

You knew Zeus was furious. He had been for weeks. Ever since Prometheus stole fire and gave it to humans, he had held a bitter anger.

Then one day you saw him speaking with Hephaestus. You could not hear the conversation, but his energy was nearly frantic.

Hephaestus was more solemn.

Later, after their conversation was done, Hephaestus gathered his tools while Zeus summoned the other gods.

He told some of the others to bring gifts. For Hephaestus was going to craft a wonder. You waited, excited to see what would come of the work.

When they were gathered, Hephaestus got to work. He sculpted with clay and with water, spinning a form. You realized, you had seen a similar form crafted not so long ago by a Titan’s hands.

At first, they were very similar, the man Prometheus had crafted, and the figure Hephaestus was spinning, but soon they took on differences.

What Prometheus had made was rugged. Hephaestus however, was the god of crafts, and the figure was beautiful. Like all things crafted by Hephaestus, it was perfect.

Although Zeus’ punishment of Prometheus was harsh, he was also angry at humankind. In order to punish them, and teach them to never disobey the gods, he devised a plan.

He ordered Hephaestus to make a woman. In some versions of the myth, she was the first woman in the world. The woman’s name was Pandora, ‘the one who bears all gifts’.

She received this name because Zeus asked each god to give her a gift.

And although she was showered in gifts from the divine, the intention was cruel. Each gift was crafted to bring about a terrible fate for Pandora and for all of humankind.

Pandora’s Box is a popular myth. One that has spawned variations and modern re-tellings. An interesting story about the origins of so many of the things that plague humankind.

A fun fact I like about the popularity of Pandora’s Box is that the name, Pandora’s Box, is a mistranslation. In the original myth, Pandora was gifted a pithos, a large jar, not a box.

So join me today in learning something about Pandora, her mythic pithos, and the origin of humankind’s evils. Come with me Through the Veil.

When the figure was formed, the gods presented their gifts. You were not instructed to bring a gift, so instead you bore witness.

Her form was the gift from Hephaestus. It was perfect. What else could you expect from the god of craft?

Aphrodite gave her grace. Athena taught her to craft, taught her hands to be deft and skilled, and her eye quick.

Before Hermes could speak, Zeus called out to him. They spoke in hushed tones for a moment until Hermes nodded.

When he returned, he presented his gift. He gave Pandora deceit, stubbornness, and curiosity.

Then Zeus brought to her a pithos, a heavy, sealed jar.

“You must never open this,” he said to her, “It is full of more gifts from us, but you must never open it, even to peek within.”

She took the jar, and nodded, but there was a twinkle in her eye that you noticed where the other gods may not have. You knew, already then and there, that her now-curious mind would not be able to resist such temptation for long.

Zeus had a single goal when he requested Hephaestus make Pandora. The punishment of humankind.

He had built a devious plot that would bring all manner of evil to humans, and would hopefully teach them never to disobey the gods.

Zeus knew that by making Pandora curious, and showing her all the great gifts that the gods could provide, then giving her a jar that she could never open, she would be unable to resist.

She may for awhile, but eventually, she would disobey Zeus’ instruction to never open the jar, and in so doing she would unleash a great many evil spirits.

It was important to Zeus’ goals that the evils be unleashed by the will of a person, not the gods. And that they do so without malice. Thus, Pandora was the perfect human to bear the jar.

Pandora left with the pithos. Every few days, you would go down off the slopes of Mount Olympus and visit the small home where she was living. The pithos sat near the door. Ignored, for the most part, but kept in an obvious place.

You didn’t think her clever and curious mind could resist keeping it out in the open.

For a long while, she seemed to be doing fine ignoring the jar. But over time, you noticed the way her gaze snagged when she looked at it. The way her eyes would settle on it when she was not focused on something else.

Over time, she started staring at it. Almost like she was willing it to open. You knew her curiosity was growing. And at this rate, it would overcome her will.

It was a matter of when she would break the seal on the jar, not if.

In most versions of the myth, Zeus presents Pandora to Epimetheus, Prometheus’ brother as a wife. Although Prometheus had warned his brother before his imprisonment not to accept anything from the gods, Epimetheus was astonished by Pandora’s beauty and accepted her as his wife.

The myth mostly skips over their time together. It simply jumps to the days leading up to Pandora’s fateful decision to open the jar. She fought her curiosity for as long as she could, but in the end it overcame her.

In the end, she makes her way to where the jar was kept, she broke the seal, and she opened the lid.

Some versions of the myth do not specify what evils were kept in the box, others give a name to a few of the worst forces contained within while leaving the rest unclear.

The most common things that were claimed to be stored in the jar are Death and Sickness, as well as a number of other evil forces.

Pandora tries to close the jar, to capture as many of the spirits as she can, but instead, she manages to only trap one spirit. The spirit of Hope.

You find your own curiosity grow by the day. You are excited to discover when Pandora will finally break and open the jar. And so you find yourself outside her home more and more frequently.

Until one day, as she walks past the jar to head to the door, she pauses. Her hand comes to rest on the lid. You watch as she looks around slowly, seemingly as if to check that nobody is around. She does not see you, hidden as you are.

Her other hand comes to the lid as well and with a quick motion of her deft hands, the seal is broken. All there is left to do is lift the lid.

She waits for a moment, staring past the jar, deep in thought perhaps. Then her eyes light up and she lifts the lid from its place in the mouth of the jar.

Immediately, a stream of dark spirits and evil energy bursts from the jar. The force of it pushes Pandora away from the jar several steps. The spirits laughed and cackled as they spread across the world of humans. In an instant, hundreds of the entities were free, bringing sickness and death and despair to all of humankind.

Pandora rushed back to the jar and slammed the lid back into place, but you knew it was too late. The damage was done.

There are many variations of the myth of Pandora’s Box. Some come from mistranslations and misinterpretations. Others come from modern retellings and modifications.

Some say that Hope was left in the jar, others that it escaped alongside its darker brethren. Other versions say that what was left in the jar was not Hope at all, but instead deceptive expectation. In one version, albeit a less common one, the jar is opened by Epimetheus himself, rather than Pandora.

And for each variant, there are many interpretations by scholars and classicists. Some argue that Hope being left in the jar is a further curse. A gift withheld from us. Others say that Hope is there as a gift. That it is preserved and protected by remaining in the jar for humankind.

Some versions do not specifically involve Pandora at all. Simply claiming instead that the jar was opened by a mortal, and not giving any name to the one who broke the seal on the evils that would plague humankind.

The myth of Pandora’s Box explains the hardships of the world. The forces that seem to torment and plague us. But, depending on your interpretation, it also offers an explanation for hope. The drive to persevere in spite of the onslaught by evil.

It has been the subject of poems, plays, frescos, sculptures and all manner of other art. It has been featured in television, movies, and games. And the theme has inspired fiction across the world.

Whatever interpretation you prefer, the story has found ways to influence society for thousands of years, and its influence continues to this day. The story of Pandora and her pithos lives on.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of Through the Veil. I hope you enjoyed. I encourage you to subscribe to receive new episodes weekly wherever you listen as we continue our exploration of folklore, myth, and magic.

If you are enjoying the show, and have subjects you would like to hear covered, please email me at throughtheveilpodcast@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter, you can find me @ThroughVeil.

As always, thank you, for listening.