What is "Pandora's Box"?

Answer 1

To make a long story short... Pandora, in the myth, was given a beautiful box and told not to open it. But she couldn't resist, and when she opened it, she let out all the misfortunes of mankind - plague, sorrow, despair, etc. But after all the misfortunes flew out, another beautiful being came out of the box also, and it was Hope.

Today when people refer Pandora's Box, they usually mean the idea of curiousity (to a point of it being dangerous), or to create a lot of problems (i.e. "Don't be a nosy parker and open Pandora's box!")

Answer 2

According to Greek Legend, Pandora was the first woman, designed by Zeus as a punishment to Prometheus for stealing fire from the Gods.

Pandora was created with several gifts, to be given to Prometheus as a dowry... one of which was a jar (Later mistranslated as a box) Prometheus told Pandora never to open it, skeptical of this gift from the gods.

However, Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind (plague, sorrow, poverty, crime, despair, greed, etc.). Once opened, she shut it in time to keep one thing in the jar: hope

The world remained extremely bleak for an unspecified interval, until Pandora "chanced" to revisit the box again, at which point Hope fluttered out. Thus, mankind always has hope in times of evil.

So... the metaphor is that caving in to curiousity and opening Pandora's Box will only cause bad things to happen.

Answer 3

In mythology, it was a box given to Pandora by the gods for safe-keeping. It contained all the woes and evils and ills of the world that currently afflict mankind and Pandora was instructed not to open it for if she did all the woes and evils would swarm out and mankind would never again live in peace and harmony and bliss. But Pandora was too curious for her (mankind's) own good and opened the box. In conventional references, "opening a Pandora's Box" refers to asking questions, making enquiries, starting a process that is going to cause a lot of trouble for a lot of people and is something that would be better left unpursued (unopened).

Answer 4

Pandora was the first woman on earth according to Greek Mythology. She was given great beauty and a box by the Gods of Mount Olympus. She was told never to open this box, but was soon tempted to do just so. When she did, all evil, diseases and sorrow entered the world. Only one good thing escaped this box; hope to guide humanity through times of agony and sorrow.

To open pandoras box is referred to as exploring the forbidden and then pay the consequences.

Answer 5

The story of Pandora's Box can be interpreted in more than one way, but is often thought to be a version of "curiosity killed the cat".

Most scholars 2 contend that Pandora's "box" is a mistranslation, and her "box" may have been a large jar or vase, forged from the earth, perhaps because of similarities in shape between a jar and a woman's uterus 4. There is also evidence 3 to suggest that Pandora herself was the "jar".

The mistranslation is usually attributed to the 16th Century Humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam when he translated Hesiod's tale of Pandora. Hesiod uses the word "pithos" which refers to a jar used to store grain. It is possible that Erasmus confused "pithos" with "pyxis" which means box. The scholar M.L. West, has written that Erasmus may have mixed up the story of Pandora with the story found elsewhere of a box which was opened by Psyche 5.

The original Greek text from 700 BC of Hesiod's Works and Days, whence we get the earliest extant story of Pandora and the jar, does not specify exactly what was in the box Pandora opened.

Answer 6

In Greek mythology, Pandora ("all gifted") was the first woman, fashioned by Zeus as part of the punishment of mankind for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire. The myth of Pandora is very old, appears in several distinct versions, and has been interpreted in many ways. In all versions, however, the myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world.

Hesiod, in his Works and Days, ca. 700 BC, has a very early version of the Pandora story. [1]

Answer 7

Making of PandoraIn Greek mythology, Pandora ("all gifted") was the first woman, fashioned by Zeus as part of the punishment of mankind for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire. The myth of Pandora is very old, appears in several distinct versions, and has been interpreted in many ways. In all versions, however, the myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world. click below for more info.. very interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora's_Box

i think its also a name of a band

Answer 8

A mythical box given to "Pandora" (a mythical being) who was very bad... The box contained all the bad things in the world and she let it out of the box.

Answer 9

In Greek mythology, Pandora ("all gifted") was the first woman, fashioned by Zeus as part of the punishment of mankind for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire. The myth of Pandora is very old, appears in several distinct versions, and has been interpreted in many ways. In all versions, however, the myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world.

The legend
The titan Epimetheus ("hindsight") was responsible for giving a positive trait to each and every animal. However, when it was time to give man a positive trait, there was nothing left. Prometheus ("foresight"), his brother, felt that because man was superior to all other animals, man should have a gift no other animal possessed. So Prometheus set forth to steal fire from Zeus and handed it over to man.

Zeus was enraged and decided to punish Prometheus and his creation: mankind. To punish Prometheus, Zeus chained him in unbreakable fetters and set an eagle over him to eat his liver each day, as the eagle is Zeus' sacred animal. Prometheus was an immortal, so the liver grew back every day, but he was still tormented daily from the pain, until he was freed by Heracles during The Twelve Labours.

To punish mankind, Zeus ordered the other gods to make Pandora as a poisoned gift for man. Pandora was given several traits from the different gods: Hephaestus molded her out of clay and gave her form; Athena clothed her and adorned her with necklaces made by Hephaestus as well as taught her manual dexterity and how to spin; Aphrodite gave her beauty; Apollo gave her musical talent and a gift for healing; Demeter taught her to tend a garden; Poseidon gave her a pearl necklace and the ability to never drown; Zeus made her idle, mischievous, and foolish; Hera gave her curiosity; Hermes gave her cunning, boldness and charm. The name Pandora, thus, derives from the fact she's received gifts from all deities: "all gifts".


Pandora by John William Waterhouse, 1896The most significant of these gifts, however, was a jar, (later mis-translated as "box"), given to Pandora either by Hermes or Zeus. Before he was chained to the rock, Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to take any gifts from the gods. Epimetheus did not listen to his brother, however, and when Pandora arrived, he fell in love with her. Hermes told him that Pandora was a gift to the titan from Zeus, and he warned Epimetheus to not open the jar, which was Pandora's dowry.

Until then, mankind had lived a life in a paradise without worry. Epimetheus told Pandora never to open the jar she had received from Zeus. However, Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind (plague, sorrow, poverty, crime, despair, greed, etc.). Once opened, she shut it in time to keep one thing in the jar: hope 1. The world remained extremely bleak for an unspecified interval, until Pandora "chanced" to revisit the box again, at which point Hope fluttered out. Thus, mankind always has hope in times of evil.

In another version of the myth, hope is considered the worst of the potential evils, because it is equated with terrifying foreknowledge. By preventing hope from escaping the jar, Pandora in a sense saves the world from the worst damage.

The daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was Pyrrha, who married Deucalion and was one of the two who survived the deluge.

Answer 10

Coloquially, it is anything that when "opened" causes all sorts of bad things to happen. Roughly, "curiosity killed the cat". See this link for the full story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora's_Box