The book Theogony written by Hesiod explains the creation of the gods. Gods and goddesses are mentioned in the order of their creation. But there is a special way by which Hesiod refers to women. They have neither real power nor virtue in the book. Goddesses and women are only creatures whose purpose is to be a burden for gods and men. The female figure in Theogony is represented as chaos, disease, birth, as a punishment for the world, as a way to balance the good and the bad in the universe.

In Theogony the female figure that represents punishment and chaos is Pandora. When Prometheus stole the fire from heaven to give it to humans, he created an imbalance that Zeus corrected by sending Pandora to Earth. "In this version the woman is identified by the name of Pandora, an instead of simply being mankind punishment in...