The legend of Pandora's box. “Pandora's Box” - meaning of phraseology and origin? What is the hidden, true meaning of the phrase? How we open Pandora's box and how to correct the consequences of this

Pandora
Πανδώρα

Pandora, 1861
Mythology:	ancient Greek
Interpretation of the name:	gifted to everyone, or giving to everyone
Greek writing:	Πανδώρα
Floor:	female
Origin:	by the will of Zeus
Mentions:	Hesiod
Spouse):	Epimetheus
Children:	daughter of Pyrrha
Illustrations on Wikimedia Commons

The title of this article has other meanings, see Pandora (meanings). "Pandora's Box" query redirects here; see also other meanings.

Pandora(Ancient Greek Πανδώρα - "gifted by all", or all-giving), in ancient Greek mythology - the first woman [* 1], created at the behest of Zeus as a punishment to people for Prometheus stealing fire for them. Curious, she opened the vessel (πίθος) received from Zeus ( Pandora's Box[* 2]), from which all misfortunes and disasters immediately scattered around the world, and under the slammed lid only hope remained at the bottom.

In new times it has become catchphrase“Open Pandora’s Box”, which means to perform an action with irreversible consequences (usually negative).

Mythology

In ancient Greek mythology, in Hesiod's Theogony, 7th century BC. e. - the first woman on earth, created by Hephaestus at the behest of Zeus - as a punishment to people for Prometheus stealing fire from the gods for them. The god of fire, Hephaestus, mixed clay with water, blinded her with the participation of Athena and other gods, who endowed Pandora with gifts (hence her name): for example, Aphrodite endowed her with beauty, Hermes with sweet speech, cunning and deceit, Athena dressed her up.

Seduced Epimetheus younger brother Prometheus, and became his wife. She learned from her husband that in the house there was a casket (or pithos) that he received from Zeus (or this vessel (box) was received by her from Zeus), and it could not be opened. If the ban is violated, humanity will face innumerable troubles. Succumbing to curiosity, she opened it, and they fell upon the world. When Pandora slammed the lid, only hope remained at the bottom - this is interpreted as the fact that people were left deprived of it.

Her and Epimetheus’s daughter Pyrrha and Prometheus’ son Deucalion became spouses; for their piety they were the only mortals to survive the flood.

Pandora is told in Hesiod's Theogony. Hyginus and Apollodorus do not mention her famous box, and Hesiod does not mention the birth of Pyrrha.

A white sheep was sacrificed to Pandora. She - actor satyr drama by Sophocles “Pandora, or the Hammers” and comedy by Nikophon of Athens “Pandora”.

Moscow State University Professor A. A. Taho-Godi interprets the myth of Pandora as obviously discrediting feminine as destructive and deceitful - in the era of the establishment of patriarchy.

Waterhouse, Pandora, 1896

Genealogy of the Hellenes

p o r

Epimetheus Pandora Deucalion Pyrrha Hellene Dor Xuthus Aeolus Achaea And he

Reception of the image

• Drama Pandora(1992) written by Jean-Christophe Bailly.

Pandora's Box - what is in Pandora's Box and what is it for?

The expression “Pandora's box” came to us from Ancient Greece, becoming the personification of sudden troubles and misfortunes. There is a version that supposedly the thing that the girl Pandora kept was called differently by the Greeks. But, translating this myth, the scientist Erazim of Rotterdam dubbed this object a box in his scientific work"Proverbs". In this form, the saying has survived to this day.

Pandora's Box - what is it?

Pandora's Box is a casket that contained misfortunes and illnesses; such a severe gift was prepared for people by the Greek titan Zeus. Over time, the expression “Pandora’s box” became popular and received a double interpretation:

1. The personification of all kinds of troubles.
2. An extremely curious person who can harm himself and others with his persistence.

This myth was very popular among both the Greeks and the Romans; in both legends, the blame for what happened was placed on the gods and Pandora, who opened this box. Another interesting interpretation is that it appeared in the 17th century, thanks to fashion designers. For demonstration fashionable clothes mannequins were created, which the rich willingly placed in their homes. These figures were called Pandora because:

• the dolls opened chests with outfits;
• misfortunes turned into the beauty of fashionable things and scattered around the world, giving women joy.

Pandora's Box - myth or reality?

Scientists have been arguing for decades whether Pandora's box really exists. If we take as a basis the theory that before Pandora appeared on Earth with harmful baggage, humanity did not know diseases, we can assume that we're talking about about the development of the race. There are versions that Pandora's mysterious box is:

1. An environmental disaster that changed human genetics.
2. A gift from alien civilizations who conducted an experiment on the Earth's population.
3. An object that destroyed the more developed civilizations of our planet, leaving one that survived, but lost the makings of health and the ability to control energies through mutations.

The Legend of Pandora's Box

The question immediately arises: why is the vessel of misfortune associated with the name of the girl, and not Zeus, who filled it? This story is told by the myth of Pandora's Box, which was preserved by the inhabitants of Hellas. When people received fire from the titan Prometheus and almost became equal to the gods, the lords of Olympus became very angry and decided to punish everyone. They created the beautiful Pandora to bring a box of troubles to Earth.

The name translates as “gifted by all”; each god tried to endow the girl with the best qualities:

• Hephaestus sculpted a wondrous figure;
• Aphrodite endowed with beauty;
• Athena prepared the richest clothes;
• Hera gave great intelligence;
• Hermes - resourcefulness and eloquence;
• Zeus inhaled his soul and irrepressible curiosity.

What is Pandora's box for?

Pandora's Box is a myth similar to the story about Trojan horse, because the girl herself did not know where and why she was being sent, and even with incomprehensible baggage, which was given by the Thunderer himself. Initially, the beauty was offered as a wife to Prometheus, but he refused because he was expecting a dirty trick from the gods. The titan's brother Epithemus fell in love with Pandora and took her into his home with a modest dowry. According to the Romans, the god Mercury himself brought the bride's luggage.

What does Pandora's box mean - it is a sophisticated punishment for people, which Zeus prepared. And later he became the personification of what he was stuffed with:

• diseases;
• misfortunes.

What's in Pandora's Box?

Some researchers hypothesize that the contents of Zeus' gift were wisely encrypted by ancient storytellers. The mystery of Pandora's box remained unsolved for many centuries, but the troubles and illnesses contained in the vessel can be interpreted as:

• deadly or dangerous viruses;
• seeds invisible to the eye that poison the earth;
• radiation that provokes all kinds of disasters.

If we assume that in ancient centuries people called aliens from other planets gods, it is quite possible to assume the existence of a box with dangerous contents. The version is also supported by the fact that Zeus created silent misfortunes so that they could sneak up on people quietly and unnoticed. After all, viruses and radiation are also invisible to the human eye. Philosophers explain the essence of the myth in their own way; supposedly Pandora's box was a container of evil energy that spread throughout the world.

Who opened Pandora's box?

Zeus forbade Pandora to open the gift, but at the same time he hoped that the curious beauty would not be able to resist the temptation. The mystery of Pandora's box quickly ceased to be such, the chosen one of the gods inquired about the contents. The myth tells that tiny creatures flew out from there and began to sting the girl. If we rely on this presentation, we can assume that in reality the beauty released insects - carriers of terrible viruses. Legends are silent about the keys to Pandora's box. The poems of some Greek poets say that Zeus himself allegedly gave the keys to the girl.

What's left in Pandora's box?

The myth says that after the beauty opened the dangerous casket and suffered from the bites of winged creatures, she quickly closed the lid. But then someone’s voice ordered to open it again in order to be healed from the wounds. This was spoken by Hope, which Zeus gave to people as a consolation. Then there are two versions of events:

1. Pandora obeyed, released Hope and was healed.
2. The girl was afraid to open the casket again, and Vain Hope remained at the bottom forever.

What's left at the bottom of Pandora's box? According to one of modern versions, in the vessel with the viruses there was an antidote that looked more like a gas. But it did not block the harm for the following possible reasons:

• there was little substance;
• the gas was released from the vessel too late, the virus carriers had already scattered;
• The antidote did not work on all victims.

In ancient times, the ending of the tale of Pandora's Box was interpreted as follows: no matter what suffering may be experienced, a person will always be supported by hope. What is in Pandora's box still remains a mystery. Philosophers draw their own conclusions: good and evil do not arise out of nowhere, they are created by people themselves. And it depends only on a person’s decision what choice he will make and with whom he will remain: with the despair of evil or with the hope of good.

What is this "Pandora's box"?

Sergey Popov

Pandora's Box
When the great titan Prometheus stole the fire of the gods from Olympus and gave it to people (see “Promethean Fire”), the father of the gods Zeus terribly punished the daredevil, but it was too late. Possessing the divine flame, people stopped obeying the celestials, learned various sciences, and came out of their pitiful state. A little more - and they would have won complete happiness for themselves...
Then Zeus decided to send punishment on them. The blacksmith god Hephaestus sculpted from earth and water beautiful woman Pandora. The rest of the gods gave her: some - cunning, some - courage, some - extraordinary beauty. Then, handing her a mysterious box, Zeus sent her to earth, forbidding her to remove the lid from the box. Curious Pandora, as soon as she came into the world, opened the lid. Immediately all human disasters flew out of there and scattered throughout the Universe. Pandora, in fear, tried to slam the lid again, but in the box of all the misfortunes, only deceptive hope remained. Remembering this, we now call “Pandora’s box” everything that, if careless, can serve as a source of grief and disaster.

Pazitiffchik

Prorodlor

Pandora was such a goddess in Ancient Greece. Hephaestus created Pandora at the behest of Zeus as a punishment to people because Prometheus gave them fire. Pandora became the wife of Prometheus' brother, whose name was Epimetheus. In the house of Epimetheus, Pandora saw a box and opened it. The box contained all sorts of disasters from which humanity is still suffering. They all spread across the earth. Therefore, the meaning of the expression “Pandora’s box” is a source of troubles and misfortunes.

There is an ancient Greek legend that Pandora is the first woman that Hephaestus made for a man, and Zeus handed her a jug in which all the evil of the world was contained, and said that she should not open it under any circumstances, but a woman is an inquisitive creature and she opened the jug, and evil flew out and the world became evil, but she managed to close the jug and hope remained inside

What is a Pandora's Box?

Melissa

PANDORA'S BOX
Have you ever heard the ancient Greek myth of Pandora's Box? Pandora --
the girl created by Hephaestus from earth and water - was told under no circumstances
open the box, but did not explain why this could not be done. Her life
flowed peacefully and serenely, as in the Garden of Eden. But one day the forbidden fruit
again proved irresistibly attractive, and Pandora opened the box. Suddenly
all the misfortunes of the world flew out of him in the form of a cloud of stinging insects, felled
from the box, bit Pandora and disappeared with glee, scattering all over
to the light like a host of evil spirits. And only one thing remained in the box - hope. AND
when she began to beg Pandora to let her out, the frightened girl opened
box again. And hope consoled her.
This myth has a very deep meaning. He tells us that he always
there is hope. Hope is the opposite of worry and
depression. It contains a hint of a better future. "False hope" is
absurdity. Any hope is real if it makes you
take action to bring your desired future closer.
Hope has no meaning if it does not motivate action.
It is unforgivable to wait passively for everything to improve on its own, instead of
to start creating a worthwhile future yourself.

Elena

– there was such a goddess in Ancient Greece. Hephaestus created Pandora at the behest of Zeus as a punishment to people because Prometheus gave them fire. Pandora became the wife of Prometheus' brother, whose name was Epimetheus. In the house of Epimetheus, Pandora saw a box and opened it. The box contained all sorts of disasters from which humanity is still suffering. They all spread across the earth. Therefore, the meaning of the expression “Pandora’s box” is a source of troubles and misfortunes.

User deleted

Pandora was such a goddess in Ancient Greece. Hephaestus created Pandora at the behest of Zeus as a punishment to people because Prometheus gave them fire. Pandora became the wife of Prometheus' brother, whose name was Epimetheus. In the house of Epimetheus, Pandora saw a box and opened it. The box contained all sorts of disasters from which humanity is still suffering. They all spread across the earth. Therefore, the meaning of the expression “Pandora’s box” is a source of troubles and misfortunes.

Pandora
(Πανδώρα) - the name of the first woman created by Hephaestus, at the command of Zeus (Hesiod), as a punishment to people for the sin of Prometheus. Hephaestus created her from water and earth in the image of wonderful beauty, gave her a human voice, strength and charm. Aphrodite, Peyto and the Charites adorned it with the gifts of their divinity; the mountains crowned her with garlands of spring flowers, and Hermes instilled in her flattery, cunning and deceit and also gave her the ability to speak beautifully. Gifted with all these gifts (Πανδώρα, that is, showered with all sorts of gifts), P. also received from Zeus a vessel (πιθος), in which all human misfortunes were locked. This vessel was given for safekeeping to P.'s husband, the short-sighted Epimetheus, who took it despite the warnings of Prometheus. Tempted by curiosity, P. opened the lid of the vessel and released all human misfortunes, slamming only one Hope, which remained in the vessel as a substitute for happiness.

Artemy Shabashov

Pandora (Greek Πανδώρα - “gifted by all”) is the name of the mythical owner of a magic casket with all troubles and hopes.
In ancient Greek myths, Pandora is the wife of Epimetheus, the younger brother of Prometheus. She learned from her husband that there was a chest in the house that under no circumstances should be opened. If you break the ban, the whole world and its inhabitants will face innumerable troubles. Succumbing to curiosity, she opened the casket and troubles befell the world. When Pandora opened the casket, at the bottom of it, by the will of Zeus, only Hope remained.
Nowadays, the phrase “Open Pandora’s Box” has become a catchphrase, which means doing an action with irreversible consequences that cannot be undone.

They have the opportunity to work and get their own food, enjoy life and not be sad, and now they also have divine fire.

The supreme ruler ordered a woman to be molded from a mixture of water and earth. Almost all the gods of Ancient Greece put their work into the creation of this woman and endowed her with different character traits. gave her beauty, Hermes - cunning and cunning, presented her with beautiful outfits. They called her Pandora, which translates from Greek language as “gifted by the gods.” And Hermes took this miracle to Epimetheus. Epimetheus was the brother of Prometheus. He was naive and easily influenced by others. So they made him an instrument of revenge against Prometheus.

Very beautiful legend

Epimetheus could not resist the beauty. Captivated by her beauty, he immediately took her as his wife, although Prometheus warned him. Together with Pandora, Zeus presented Epimetheus with a gift - a vessel in which he collected all human suffering, vices, illnesses, vices and pain. The box was strictly forbidden to open. But Pandora was wondering what was hidden there and she decided to look into it. She stole it from her husband and tried to open it.

But at first she didn’t succeed. Sounds were coming from the vessel. Voices asked for help. Pandora tried to open it again and succeeded. Troubles, evil, adversity, grief began to jump out of the vessel and rain down on people. They bit them in their most vulnerable places.

Pandora got scared and closed the lid. But vices already lived among people and tormented them. Everyone started getting angry, arguing with each other, hating each other. She got scared and told her husband about everything. Epimetheus took the vessel and heard a thin, barely noticeable voice. He opened the vessel again and from there emerged not anger, but timid, barely noticeable hope. Hope touched the wounded places and people’s troubles went away, pain and despair went away. even in our time it is believed that hope always comes after grief and pain. It gives people faith in the future.

Excessive curiosity always leads to grief and unhappiness. Speaking about this, we immediately understand what it means "Pandora's Box".

Very often people open their “Pandora's box”.

Sometimes their actions lead to negative and irreversible consequences, and maybe everything will end sadly. For example, we may do something that seriously hurts loved one or we can utter some evil phrase and it will greatly offend our loved one. All this will entail resentment, quarrels, and misunderstandings. How to solve all this? We begin to be tormented by thoughts, we begin to engage in self-eating, we figure out how to fix everything and where to start. And sometimes, because of some stupid offense, we stop being together with our loved ones and relatives.

Many people foolishly waste their lives in anger, tormented by grievances. They stop communicating with relatives. Therefore, no one should open Pandora's box. And if you have already opened it, then it is best to resolve everything quickly and avoid misunderstandings. It is better to forget all grievances and reconcile quickly. You should never carry a heavy burden of anger, despair and resentment in your soul all your life.

Surely even Pandora herself did not suspect that this could happen. Curiosity pushed her to do this. Over time, she obviously regretted what she had done. But hope appeared in time, which saved everyone, cured them from pain and gave them a weak light that still flickers somewhere in the distance. It may be small, even barely noticeable, but it is so strong that it can bring you back to life.

conclusions

The main idea of ​​this phraseological unit is that it does not matter what difficult situation and no matter what misfortunes happen, no matter how much pain there is, you must always keep hope. Hope for forgiveness, for understanding.

We can say that “Pandora's box” is a figurative expression. It means the unknown. After all, when we open a vessel, we cannot know what will happen in the future. And anything can happen, both good and bad. Everything remains a mystery until the very last moment.

It is completely unfair that the meaning of this phraseological unit is attributed negative meaning. It’s like I opened a box, and troubles started pouring out of there. But there can also be advantages. Without bad there is no good, just hope for the best, by the way.

Pandora's Box (ancient Greek myth)

After Prometheus brought fire to people from the forge of Hephaestus and taught them different crafts, people worked, and their lives became happier. And people themselves have become better, kinder and more attentive to each other. After all, they now had a lot of everything, and if there was something missing, they could do it all themselves. The great Thunderer did not like this, and he decided to test people again and sent Evil to them on earth. And so that people would not understand that this was Evil, it had to come to them in the form of a beautiful girl.

Zeus called his son, the god Hephaestus, and ordered him to mix earth with water and make a girl extraordinary beauty. Pallas Athena wove a wonderful robe for her from silver threads and placed a golden crown on her head. Aphrodite gave the girl an irresistible charm, and Hermes put a deceitful and cunning soul into her chest.
They named the girl Pandora, which meant “endowed with all the gods.” And this really was so, because she received gifts from all the gods.
When the girl was ready, Zeus ordered Hermes to take her to the house of Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Prometheus always warned his foolish brother not to accept any gifts from the cunning Zeus. He knew that these gifts could only bring disasters and hardships to people. But Epimetheus did not listen wise advice his brother, and above all, the girl was so beautiful that he joyfully accepted her and took Pandora as his wife.
Epimetheus soon became convinced that this time his wise brother was right. Together with Pandora, a large vessel appeared in the house of Epimetheus. It stood in a dark corner for a long time, and no one ever opened it. Everyone knew from somewhere that if the vessel was opened, great disaster would fall on the earth. So the vessel stood in a secluded place, and no one even dared to think about coming close to it. But one day the curious and cunning Pandora, languishing with curiosity, slowly made her way to the vessel.
“I won’t open it,” she thought, “but I’ll just open the lid a little and look inside to see what lies there.”
And she slightly opened the vessel. But this crack was enough for all the evil, all human vices and misfortunes, illnesses and hardships that were contained in the vessel to fly out of it.
Frightened Pandora slammed the lid, but it was too late. All human vices and misfortunes managed to scatter across the earth, and at the very bottom of the vessel only hope remained. So now people were deprived of even a small hope for a better life.
Again evil settled on the earth, people suffered from various disasters that befell them one after another. New diseases appeared, they could no longer be healed by the medicines that Prometheus gave to people.

Phraseologism "Pandora's Box" - meaning and history of origin

Pandora's Box. The poem “Works and Days” by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod has reached us from ancient times. From it it is known that a certain Pandora, being the beloved of the king of the gods Zeus himself, received a precious casket from him as a gift. She was strictly ordered not to open it under any circumstances. And there was a reason - after all, all sorts of troubles and misfortunes that you can imagine were stored there. And yet, female curiosity played its fatal role. The casket was opened, and misfortunes scattered around the world, looking for and finding new victims.

So, truly, you need to measure seven times before deciding on something important...

Comments

• I thought the whole story would be described here
• He gave me a casket that cannot be opened. So-so gift
• Thank you, of course, but I needed: why “Pandora’s Box” became a phraseological unit. I didn't find the answer, but thanks anyway
• very exciting, interesting, thanks for the information)
• I thought about it before. that Pandora's box is a box with some kind of jewelry. Thanks for the interesting and informative information.
• I agree, the most truthful theory of this phraseological unit. By the way, who doesn’t know, the most terrible and insidious of these misfortunes was the “dashing one-eyed”, which, for some reason, really “loved” the territory of ancient Russia. But it also really loves to sleep. Hence The second expression came out: don’t make a fuss while it’s quiet.

IN Lately The use of the expression "Pandora's box" has become more frequent. The more tense the situation in the world, the more often this idiom is used in colloquial speech. Understanding this phrase as an unprecedented source of all kinds of misfortunes and troubles. For most citizens, this expression is extremely clear and does not carry any ambiguities.

The history of the popular expression "Pandora's box"

This phrase was first used in ancient Greece.In this country there was a legend that tells that in ancient times the whole world was ruled by the god Zeus, who lived on Olympus. In those days, the people who lived on our fragile planet did not know any cataclysms, wars or bad weather. Citizens lived in contented and full, they were happy with their existence. However, these people never figured out how to make fire themselves, and it was this circumstance that slightly darkened their existence.
A god named Prometheus saw that people did not have life-giving fire and decided to help them at all costs. He stole a particle of divine fire and took it to the people. Zeus learned about this offense and decided to punish this rebellious god and the people who took advantage of this fiery flower.

God Hephaestus, with the help of earth and water, carefully mixed, sculpted a beautiful girl and breathed life and intelligence into her. She became beautiful like the sun and cunning like a fox. The gods endowed her with a well-spoken tongue and excessive curiosity.
If translated from Greek word"Pandora" means "gifted by all", which is why in ancient legend this girl was named Pandora. Then Zeus gave Pandora a beautiful casket, all carved and decorated with precious stones. However, Zeus added that under no circumstances should his gift be opened.
It is this box that is called “Pandora’s box” in ancient Greek legend.

After the girl descended from Olympus to the sinful Earth, she decided to take a look at least from the corner of her eye at what was inside the casket. Immediately the lid opened and bitterness and illness, fear and hatred, misfortunes and troubles escaped from captivity to the Earth. and was a gift for the people of the Earth as punishment for the fact that they could not avoid temptation and took advantage of the divine flame.
Pandora was horrified and immediately slammed the lid of the chest, but it was too late, all the troubles were already among the people, and only one hope remained in the chest.

This expression "Pandora's box" means a meaning that is understandable to any citizen - a source of troubles and problems.

This expression is found only in the mythology of ancient Greece; it is not found anywhere else, so it is perceived equally in all countries of the world.

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