What was in Pandora's box?

Answer 1

evil, but the sunday school version also says it contained hope, as the very last thing to be let out of the box

Answer 2

The most significant of these gifts, however, was a pithos or storage jar,[1] 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 not to 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, vice, old age, sickness, insanity, spite, passion, famine, deceit, 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, more philosophical version of the myth, hope (Elpis) 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 3

According to Greek myth, Pandora was a woman created by the Gods to punish mankind after Prometheus gave mankind fire. (A sort of payback, if you will).
She was given a number of gifts, including a box she was not supposed to open. She was also given a number of defects, including curiosity, which would ensure she did open it. In the box were all the woes of mankind (Despair, famine, war, sorrow, etc...)
So of course, Pandora opened the box and all the woes came flying out, afflicting mankind ever since.
Today, a Pandora's box is used as a metaphor for something that, once touched upon, becomes impossible to keep under wraps and has negative consequences.

Answer 4

All the evils in the world--Hate, Greed, Jealousy, etc. She set them loose on the world because she couldn't keep the lid on a secret. In some versions, Hope was at the bottom of the box, so that mankind wouldn't be driven to dispair and suicide.

Answer 5

Pandora opened the box TWO times. Here are two excerpts from the link below.

"Now, Jupiter had malignantly crammed into this box all the diseases, sorrows, vices, and crimes that afflict poor humanity; and the box was no sooner opened, than all these ills flew out, in the guise of horrid little brown-winged creatures, closely resembling moths. These little insects fluttered about, alighting, some upon Epimetheus, who had just entered, and some upon Pandora, pricking and stinging them most unmercifully. They then flew out through the open door and windows, and fastened upon the merrymakers without, whose shouts of joy were soon changed into wails of pain and anguish."

AND

". . .It was well for Pandora that she opened the box a second time, for the gods, with a sudden impulse of compassion, had concealed among the evil spirits one kindly creature, Hope, whose mission was to heal the wounds inflicted by her fellow prisoners. . . ."

". . .Lightly fluttering hither and thither on her snowy pinions, Hope touched the wounded places on Pandora's and Epimetheus' creamy skin, and relieved their suffering, then quickly flew out of the open window, to perform the same gentle office for the other victims, and to cheer their downcast spirits.

Thus, according to the ancients, evil entered into the world, bringing untold misery; but Hope followed closely in its footsteps, to aid struggling humanity, and point to a happier future. . ."

Answer 6

pandora opened the box contained the box containing all evil and hope.

Answer 7

In the mythological sense, this box supposedly contained all evil spirits and when you opened it, they call came out.

Internet wise, its a website that customizes a play list for you. This play list is similar to launchcast on yahoo. You pick an artist and they try to find artist that you may like for your listening pleasure.

Answer 8

all the worries of the world -- despair, pain, hunger, epidemics -- she shut the box but there was a small voice calling from within it -- she opened it and hope flew out which is why people handle all the despair -- we have hope

Answer 9

All the world's troubles. Hope was the one thing that did not get out of the box.

Answer 10

"all the misfortunes of mankind (plague, sorrow, poverty, crime, despair, greed, vice, old age, sickness, insanity, spite, passion, famine, deceit, 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."