Prometheus Creates Life
At first there were only gods, and the gods were lonely, so Zeus asked Epimethius and Prometheus to create other beings. After making them all, It was time to equip them with traits. It was decided that Epimethius was to assign the traits, and Prometheus was to check. Unwisely, Epimethius distributed all his available traits to the brute animals, and had absolutely nothing to give to the humans. He was stumped and asked Prometheus for help.
Races of Humans (telling Edith Hamilton Mentions)
At first, the gods created the Golden Race. The Golden race lived happily, although mortal. They lived somewhat like the gods, "without sorrow of heart,far from toil and pain" (Edith Hamilton bottom pg 71) and once they died they became pure spirits. Bent on experimenting with different metals, the gods soon tried silver, then brass, both of which were violent and unsuccessful. Upon death, they did not continue to exist as spirits. This race was followed by a race of godlike heroes. Finally, the gods created the Iron race was created, which is the one we see today.
What's left?
After Prometheus finally creates the "Iron race" takes all of his remaining gifts and puts them in a box. Of course all the good gifts have been used up. Left in the box is all the bad qualities. He takes this box and stores it away in safety, but when there are gods involved, there's nowhere safe. Before hiding the box, Prometheus warns his brother never to accept gifts from gods.
Prometheus Gives Humans a Gift
Feeling bad for humans, having no more good traits left for them to stand up to the beasts, and having the humans eating raw meat, and sitting out in the cold and the dark, he realizes, I could give them fire from Olympus to cook their food. He asks Zeus for fire, but Zeus refuses. Secretly, he goes to Olympus and takes charcoal from Zeus' hearth. He gives the humans the fire, something that would protect them more than any other trait, such as strength or speed, and led to them learning how to cook and build with fire.
Zeus' Revenge
Zeus sees the humans using fire and is outraged. He decides to punish the brothers. First he captured Prometheus and chained him to a cliff. Everyday, Zeus sends an Eagle to eat Prometheus' liver, Prometheus, being a god, heals himself, so the process cycles for hundreds of years until Zeus finally has mercy on Prometheus and sends Hercules to rescue him. He also decides to get revenge on the human race, so he creates the female. He asks each god to contribute a positive trait. Mars gives strength, Apollo gives music, Aphrodite gives beauty, and so on. He calls her Pandora. He gives her to Epimethius his brother. Epimethius discarding his brother's warning takes her in. He loves her and cares for her and they live happily, until Zeus gives them another gift. A box that he tells them never to open. Epimethius agrees and so does Pandora, but Zeus gave Pandora one quality no other humans had, curiosity. One day when Epimethius is away, Pandora opens the box! All of the evils of the world are released! Pandora quickly shuts the box. When Epimethius returns Pandora tells him what happens. "What have I done," she wails. She opens the box to display that the box is empty, and a glowing, bright fairy comes out of the box. "Hello Pandora, I am hope," it says.