Pandora
the first mortal female, according to Hesiod. She was made by Vulcan out of clay, at the command of Jupiter, who wished to punish the impiety of Prometheus by giving him a companion. When the statue was animated, each god and goddess bestowed on her some special charm or attribute, beauty, grace, music, wisdom, fascination, and eloquence; while Jove himself presented her with the "Pandora's box," full of secret wonders, which could be only opened by the mortal she selected for her husband. Mercury carried her to earth, and presented her to Prometheus, who refused her. His brother, however, asked for and obtained Pandora for his wife, upon which she presented him with the casket. When Pandora opened the lid, a host of evils flew out and spread themselves over the world; and the consequences would have been still more fatal, had there not been Hope at the bottom, to ameliorate the pains and sufferings of life.
In zoölogy, a genus of bivalve mollusks, a considerable depth in the sandy shores of Europe and of the Pacific Ocean. In astronomy, an asteroid, discovered by G.
Searle in 1858. In music, a kind of lute, having unequivalved shells, found furnished with strings of brass.