{"id":403,"date":"2008-11-12T19:14:45","date_gmt":"2008-11-12T23:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=403"},"modified":"2008-11-12T19:14:45","modified_gmt":"2008-11-12T23:14:45","slug":"magical-buffet-mythology-pandora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=403","title":{"rendered":"Magical Buffet Mythology: Pandora"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Rebecca
\nImage by Will Hobbs (www.sirwilliamwesley.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>Hey, thanks for clicking in! As I was saying, it\u2019s often forgotten or overlooked knowledge that Pandora was the first woman. In Greek myth Hephaestus<\/a> crafted her body and Athena gave her intelligence (later renditions have all the Olympians giving her gifts which coincides with her name Pandora, given to her by Hermes, which means All Gifted). Pandora, and all womankind that came after, were created in retribution for Prometheus gifting fire to humanity. In later versions, just in case the wicked nature of woman wasn\u2019t enough punishment, Pandora was given a jar (which later still became a box) that held nothing but evils. Zeus gave Pandora to Epimetheus and wouldn\u2019t you know it, she immediately scatters the contents of the jar. The only thing left in the jar was hope.<\/p>\n

Still a fairly basic story, right? Let\u2019s delve deeper, shall we? Pandora\u2019s name, although frequently referenced as above to mean All Gifted, has been reconsidered by most scholars to actually translate into Giver of All or All Endowed. This name tends to strip away the Greek gods, doesn\u2019t it? Add in a full jar, always a good symbol of the womb, and you may have some sort of proto-Greek fertility deity. Enter the Greek pantheon and their need for a mythology. Where did woman come from? Why is there evil in the world? And faster than you can say, \u201cEve picked an apple\u201d Pandora is created by the Gods to be the downfall of man by letting loose a bevy of evils from her jar.<\/p>\n

Even if you ignore my overtly feminist rendition of the above paragraph, there are still many things about the myth that are open to interpretation, theory, and opinion. I find it surprising because generally regardless of how simplistic the story is, most mythological\/religious texts wrap up loose ends and stop up any gaps. Yet here are a few things about Pandora\u2019s story to consider.<\/p>\n

Why is hope still in the jar? It doesn\u2019t escape the jar and enter the world, so is hope held back in the jar for humanity\u2019s benefit or punishment? Essentially, is hope being saved for us, or withheld from us? In order for us to experience the evils of the jar, they had to be freed from the container, so what does it say that hope is still locked away? Of course, hope of what? Everything else in the jar was evil, why was hope in that mix? Was it a blessing trapped in the jar with curses, or was it some sort of evil hope, which we were spared by it being left behind? See what I\u2019m talking about? <\/p>\n

Moreover, there is the classic did she jump or was she pushed kind of question. Did Pandora intentionally open the jar, knowing what it contained? Did she open it out of curiosity due to ignorance of its contents? It\u2019s unclear whether Pandora acted with intent to cause harm or not.<\/p>\n

Pandora endures, whether it\u2019s as the no good woman who opened up the literal Pandora\u2019s box for the world, a curious woman who accidentally doomed us all, or as a deity commandeered into mortality to serve as a lesson regarding the evils of woman. Pandora and her jar\/box are referenced frequently in modern times, more often it seems than Zeus, who commanded her creation, and certainly more than any of the Greek poets who helped establish her story. Perhaps despite her rough lot in life, she\u2019s come out on top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"