Many use the expression “open Pandora's box”, but have you really wondered what exactly is Pandora's box? We invite you to read this Greek myth about Pandora's box and so you learn everything you need to know about it and the important lesson it leaves on humanity.
Your start.
Counting exactly how many myths and legends exist in Greek mythology is almost impossible. Mythology is a practical brand of portraying the history and culture of a population, therefore, for every explanation of events that were out of the ordinary, there was a myth, even those stories, made to raise awareness among a group of young Greeks, also with the passage of time, they became myths.
Pandora's box is perhaps one of the best known myths of Greek mythology, especially because it was not created to explain a specific fact, but rather to warn young Greeks of their own curiosity. The myth features Pandora, the first mortal woman on Earth, a creation of Hephaestus, despite the fact that the order was actually given by Zeus.
The myth says that Zeus created the box as a tool to punish men, after the accident with Prometheus and the fire. Zeus sends, in turn, to create a woman to be beautiful, divine, skillful and kind to be the guardian of this box, however, Hermes grants her the gift of lying.
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The myth of Pandora's box.
The first thing we must clarify about the myth of Pandora's box is that the box did not really belong to Pandora, she was only in charge of taking this box to Epimetheus, Zeus had been in charge of placing all the evils in the box. in the world and he had left a quite clear instruction to Pandora, for nothing in the world should he open the box.
Pandora was a woman of many incredible qualities, her only flaw? An insatiable curiosity that caused her to open such a package. What she never expected is that the most terrible evils would come out of such a tiny box. (famine, disease, hatred, etc.). From there, frightened, Pandora decided to slam the box shut, preventing one last element from coming out, hope.
These evils lodged in the human race, making disasters in their minds and lives, worst of all, is that when Pandora locked up hope, it was not able to reach humans. Today, one of the greatest Greek myths is born from there, as well as one of the most widespread phrases around the world.
Pandora's box seeks to do three things within its history, to warn the human being that every action has a consequence, that curiosity and disobedience are not always good and third, the total downfall of man lies in his lack of hope. .
Variants of the myth.
There are other variants of the original Greek myth of Pandora's box, for example one of the legends tells how in fact inside the box there were no evil, but good elements delivered by Zeus, this box then becomes a gift for Epimetheus, for celebrate your marriage.
In this same story, Pandora works as a messenger to bring the gift, however, out of her own curiosity, she decides to open the box and the items return to Olympus. On the other hand, the third variant expresses the same main argument, the only difference is that Pandora feels so sorry for her mistake, that she goes through the land offering hope, which is the only element left in the box.
In the modernity in which we live, myths, stories and legends have become an important part of our lives, even when we do not study them thoroughly, we are able to recognize, by general culture, a few. If we talk about “opening Pandora's box”, we automatically know that it is something that seems innocent but whose consequences are terrible.
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Did the Greeks blame Pandora for their sufferings?
If Greek mythology makes one thing clear, it is that blaming the most innocent is the correct response. If we review a little the history of the myth of Pandora's box, it is easy to see why Pandora would be to blame for the misfortunes, after all, she opened the box out of curiosity.
But should the Greeks blame the innocent person, who out of his own curiosity, unleashed something terrible in his village? Or should they blame the creator of the box in the first place? The Greeks were never going to blame Zeus, their god was so revered, that it was impossible for him to be to blame for something that seemed so human and Pandora, who was created precisely for that, to be the first woman, was judged for the fact of being human.
Pandora and Eve.
Some years ago, some linguist described the similarities between Pandora and Eve. Both created to be the first women, with human problems, punished and condemned by themselves.
Pandora and Eva suffered the same fate, being criticized for a mistake that if a god had made it, fate would not have punished him so strongly. If Pandora and Eve were created to be the first women, should they be held to human standards or to the standards of the gods?
Interestingly, we can see how Mesopotamian tales and Greek myths tend to criticize women and define them as the true downfall of man. The similarities between these two characters are too great to ignore, the Greeks weren't upset about the evils created by Zeus in the first place, they were upset that Pandora was curious enough to go through the box and let them go.
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