‘Pandora Close Your Box’ handmade word collage by Angela Zafiris

‘Pandora Close Your Box’ digital collage by Angela Zafiris

In the creation myths, Zeus was so enraged with Prometheus for stealing fire, that he plotted his revenge against him. He ordered Hephaestus to create a beautiful woman with clay and water.  The goddess Athena gave his creation charm and grace and Hermes gave her cleverness and the art of lying (!) She was given the name ‘Pandora’ meaning all-giving. Hephaestus gave her to the Titan Epimetheus who ignored his brothers’ advice to not to accept any gifts from Zeus, but he ignored his brother and married Pandora. Pandora brought with her a box that the gods told her to never open. Pandoras’ curiostiy got the best of her and she opend it and in doing so released all of the troubles into the world. Only hope remained in the box which whispered big dreams and false hopes into peoples weary ears and thus keeping them alive.

Similarly to the Eves’ biting of the forbidden fruit as the reason for the ills of the world so to is Pandora to blame, a woman! But, if we look closer it’s not a woman who is the source of all that has plague humans since antiquity.  If Zeus had not sought revenge against Prometheus, and if he had not created that darn box than all calamities would have been avoided. But, of course the female has to be the scape goat. In the famous story of the Trojan war, Helen and her irresistible beauty, was said to be the reason for the war, but these two enemies (Achaean Greeks and the Trojan Anatolians) only found a beautiful excuse to go to war.  The blame was put on a womans’ beauty and not on the war mongering nature of most men. Men abuse nature, men abuse animals, men abuse children and men abuse women and each other. Yet it’s the ‘cunning, lying, curious, manipulative, and idle woman who is said to have started it all.

Nonetheless, the story is inspiring and the references to Pandora can be spotting everywhere from pop culutre to the media. With all the catastrophes that seem to be multiplying like a hydra recently, we all know who is to be blamed..a woman! A very ancient woman and her box!