There are various interpretations of the meaning of Pandora’s name. Hesiod explains that it means “she who is given all gifts.” In other accounts Pandora is an epithet of the goddess Gaia, the earth, who is the source of all life for mortals, “she who gives all gifts.” This interpretation is reinforced by an image on an Attic vase depicting the creation of woman, which labels the central figure Anesidora, which unambiguously means “she who sends up gifts [from the earth].”
The ambiguity of Pandora’s name can be interpreted in either of two ways. One possibility is that the divine epithet indicates that Pandora was originally a goddess. This type of explanation was popular when scholars of Greek religion believed that all mythic figures were based on deities whose power had faded. Another interpretation considers what the myth suggests about the valuation of women. Some scholars have argued that Hesiod’s rejection of women’s contributions to human existence points to a desire to obscure the degree to which men actually depended on them. The ambiguous nature of the name has continued to shape the reception of Pandora throughout the centuries. She can stand for good or evil, depending on whether the myth or the meaning of the name is given prominence.
Pandora is not mentioned by name in either of the epic poems of Homer (c. ninth-eighth century BCE), the Iliad or the Odyssey, but she serves as Homer’s model for the mythological figure Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Scholars argue that when Paris carries Helen from Sparta at the urging of the goddess Aphrodite, and when the old men of Troy say that there is no shame in risking everything for so beautiful a woman, they collectively assume the role of a latter-day Epimetheus deceived into accepting a treacherous and ruinous gift. Pandora does not play a large role in later Greek literature, although there are traces in other myths of the misogynistic attitude found in Hesiod’s record of her myth.
World History
