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

Pandora's Box
From the poem “Works and Days” by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod (VIII-VII centuries BC). It contains the myth of Pandora (from Greek: “gifted by all”), a beautiful woman whom Zeus sent to earth to punish both Prometheus, who stole fire from Olympus for mortals, and all people who dared to use this stolen gift.
Before going to earth, Pandora was given gifts by all the Olympian gods, and Zeus presented her with a special gift - a beautifully decorated casket, but immediately warned her that she should never look into it. Knowing female psychology, Zeus was sure that his revenge would take place: Pandora, driven by curiosity, would definitely open the casket, and from there all the human vices, troubles and misfortunes that Zeus had prepared as a “gift” to humanity would break free.
The beautiful Pandora managed to please Prometheus's brother, the simple-minded Epimetheus, who married her. At the same time, he forgot Prometheus’s strict order not to accept anything or anyone from Zeus. Pandora, unable to resist curiosity, opened the casket. This is how people were punished by Zeus. The only thing left is at the bottom of the box. - Nadezhda.
Allegorically: the source of troubles, misfortunes.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.

Pandora's Box

An expression that means: the source of misfortune, great disasters; arose from the poem “Works and Days” by the Greek poet Hesiod, which tells that people once lived without knowing any misfortunes, illnesses or old age, until Prometheus stole fire from the gods; for this, the angry Zeus sent a beautiful woman to earth - Pandora; she received from Zeus a casket in which all human misfortunes were locked. Spurred on by curiosity, Pandora opened the casket and scattered all the misfortunes.

Dictionary of catch words. Plutex. 2004.

See what "Pandora's Box" is in other dictionaries:

- “PANDORA’S BOX” (Die Buchse von Pandora), Germany, 1928, 120 min. Drama based on the plays of F. Wedekind Opinions about this film by the great German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst were radically divided. Most domestic historians... ... Encyclopedia of Cinema

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 source of disasters (1) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Pandora's Box- In Greek mythology, Pandora is the first woman created by the god of fire, Supreme Hephaestus. God Zeus gave her a box in which all human misfortunes were contained. Out of curiosity, Pandora opened the box, and all the troubles flew out of it and... ... Historical reference book of Russian Marxist

Pandora's Box- Book The source of misfortune, disaster. If Pandora's box with all the bad things is thrown at you, you won't be able to escape from everyone (Leskov. Laughter and grief). The year 1938, which managed to cause a lot of troubles and misfortunes in eleven months, was already just before... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Pandora's Box (filled with disasters). Wed. (A lie) one time... can be refuted, but if, according to all the rules of a siege, entire battalions, entire regiments are sent against you at once, a Pandora’s box with all sorts of nasty things will be thrown over you... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

Jules Joseph Lefebvre, Pandora with a casket, 1882 Pandora (Greek Πανδώρα “gifted by all”) is the name of the mythical owner of a magical casket with all troubles and hope. Nicolas Regnier, Allegory of Vanity (Pandora), c.1626 ... Wikipedia

M. The source of all disasters. Ephraim's explanatory dictionary. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova

Cave on the left bank of the river. White Iyus, in Kuznetsk Alatau (Khakassia). Length approx. 18 km, depth more than 180 m. The name is associated with the surprise of the discovery of the cave in the studied area and its mystery. A labyrinth-type cave in limestone... ... Geographical encyclopedia

Book The source of all kinds of disasters, misfortunes, troubles. /i> An expression from Hesiod’s poem (8th–7th centuries BC) “Works and Days,” which uses mythological motifs. BMS 1998, 653–654 ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Pandora's Box- wing. sl. An expression that means: the source of misfortune, great disasters; arose from the poem “Works and Days” by the Greek poet Hesiod, which tells that people once lived without knowing any misfortunes, illnesses or old age, until Prometheus... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

Books

• Pandora's Box, Mary Sheldon. A girl with a name from Greek myth whose dreams cannot be contained in a small provincial town. One day, the girl's wishes will come true, and she will receive an incredible gift that will change...

Many people know the term “Pandora’s box”, the meaning of which goes back to the legends of Ancient Greece. This is a very interesting myth with deep semantic meaning. The ancients believed that curiosity was one of the main vices. They said about a person who sticks his nose into other people's business that he is trying to open Pandora's box.

...It all started with the fact that the god Prometheus gave people fire, saving them from the cold and darkness of the night. was angry at this action. By order of the Supreme Olympian, Prometheus was chained to a rock. Every day an eagle flew in and pecked out Prometheus’s liver, but overnight it was restored again.

The wrath of Zeus fell not only on Prometheus, but also on people. Having received fire, the inhabitants of the earth gained independence from the gods and stopped worshiping them. To punish disobedient people, Zeus the Thunderer came up with an insidious plan...

Pandora's Box (myth)

Zeus ordered the creation of a young girl, beautiful and very curious. Many Olympian gods took part in its creation. Hephaestus mixed earth and water to fashion a body for her. Hermes breathed the soul into the girl, and Aphrodite gave her a seductive smile. Athena prepared a sparkling silver outfit for the first woman among mortals.

The girl received the name “Pandora,” which can be translated as “possessing all gifts.” The gods decided to give it to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Epimetheus knew that he should not take gifts from Zeus, but he was fascinated by the manners and appearance of the young woman. Contrary to the advice of his brother, Epimetheus decided to take the girl as his wife.

Pandora's box has opened

A curious woman explored every corner of her husband's house. One day she came across a strange box made of dark wood that stood in the basement, near the farthest wall.

The box was tied with a silk gold cord. Pandora wanted to know from her husband what was in the box. However, Epimetheus said that under no circumstances should it be opened.

After waiting for her husband to leave the house, the woman pulled the lace and heard voices calling to her from the box. They opened the lid, and all kinds of diseases, misfortunes and troubles immediately flew out of it. Pandora desperately tried to slam the lid, but when she succeeded, only one creature with a broken wing remained inside the box.

The emergence of hope

Troubles and diseases spread among people, and Pandora and Epimetheus learned for the first time what fear and pain were. In a moment of despair, they heard the faint voice of the creature that remained locked in the box. The creature asked to be released and assured that it could heal any wounds. Considering that things couldn’t get any worse, Epimetheus decided to open the box.

The creature sitting at the bottom was hope. She healed pain and corrected all troubles. And now, from now on, behind every misfortune, behind every evil, hope always appears. But people should not expect it too quickly; sometimes hope is delayed by a broken wing.

Quite often we hear the phrase “open Pandora’s box.” What does this mean? In what cases is this expression used? And what is Pandora? Let's look into these subtleties. After James Cameron's acclaimed film Avatar, many believe that Pandora is a fictional planet inhabited by cat-like blue creatures. But the planet did not have a box, and it could not have existed. Zeus, the king of the divine Olympus, owned the casket. What was inside? Why is phraseology used in a negative sense? To do this, we need to remember the myth of Prometheus. It was from the act of this titan, who disobeyed Zeus and gave people fire, that the story of Pandora began. How did it happen? We'll find out now.

Myths of Ancient Greece

Pandora is born as an instrument of revenge. In the ancient world, gods were not at all the standard of high morality. The Greeks recognized anger, jealousy, lust, deceit and brutal cruelty in their idols. They were envious, these And when they learned that the despicable people received fire from Prometheus, which almost equalized them with the inhabitants of heaven, they became angry. The gods gathered in council and planned terrible revenge.

Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a girl, Pandora, from earth and water. She was not the first woman on earth, so you should not compare her with the biblical Eve. What is Pandora? A woman who does not know that she is an instrument of revenge is, as they would now say, a “blind courier.” The gods first of all wanted to punish the family of Prometheus, and then the people who, as they believed, had received fire as a gift for no reason.

All-round talent

So, Hephaestus created the body of Pandora from wet clay. His wife, Aphrodite, endowed the idol with inexplicable charms. Pallas Athena wove rich clothes for her. Hera - the mother of the gods - endowed her with intelligence, and the winged Hermes gave her resourcefulness, resourcefulness and oratory. Well, Zeus breathed his soul into her. Other gods also gave the girl something of their power. This is where the meaning of the name Pandora comes from. From ancient Greek it is translated as “gifted by all.” But the main gift that Zeus gave her along with his soul was irrepressible curiosity. Further, the myths of Greece and Rome regarding Pandora and her casket diverge.

According to the Hellenic version, which is found in Hesiod’s poem “Works and Days,” satyrs brought the girl from Olympus to earth directly to the house of Epithemeus, the younger brother of Prometheus. She had the casket with her - as a dowry from Zeus. The Roman version is more logical: the box is brought to the house of Epithemeus by the cunning Hermes-Mercury, leaving it for a while as his luggage.

What was in the casket?

Both Greek and Roman myths agree about the contents of the box. Misfortunes, illnesses and troubles that Zeus-Jupiter wanted to unleash on the human race were locked there. And Pandora’s curiosity helped him in this. When Epithemeus, whose name, by the way, translates as “thinking later,” decided to marry a beautiful girl, the king of Olympus gave the bride a casket as a dowry, instructing her never to open it. The Supreme God knew that she would look inside at the first opportunity. And the punishment for all people will be Pandora's box. The myths of Ancient Greece tell how a frightened girl slammed the lid, and therefore hope remained at the bottom of the casket.

Roman version

According to her, the gods first wanted to hand over the beautiful Pandora to the titan Prometheus himself. But he refused to accept such a gift, rightly believing that there must be some kind of catch in it. Prometheus also dissuaded his brother from marrying, but he became stubborn and said that such a beautiful creature as Pandora could not bring grief.

The casket appeared on the scene later, when Epithemeus had already taken the heavenly girl as his wife. It was brought by Mercury, who, under the guise of a tired wanderer, asked the owner of the house to leave the heavy burden for a while. Epithemeus agreed. But then curiosity arose in Pandora. She approached the chest and began to look at it. And then she heard what seemed like someone’s whisper. What's happened? Pandora put her ear to the casket. Indeed, voices begged to open the lid. The poor girl could not resist the temptation and opened the chest. At the same instant, small creatures with brown wings began to bite and sting her, her husband, who ran up to the screams, and other people. In horror, Pandora slammed the lid. But then she heard a weak voice: “Open to me too, I will heal you from your wounds.” The girl obeyed. That was hope - the only consolation that the vengeful Zeus gave to people along with troubles and illnesses.

Pandora's Box: the meaning of phraseological units

Both the Greeks and Romans blamed the existence of evil on the gods. Thus, as can be seen from the myth, opening the chest sent by Zeus was a rash, fatal step.

Evil, once released from the casket, cannot be put back together. The expression “open Pandora’s box” has become Now it means that some action can lead to irreversible consequences; another synonym for this phraseological unit can be “Release the genie from the bottle.” It refers to the tales of the Arabian Nights, which often feature evil demons trapped in sealed vessels.

Other Pandora

The name with the meaning “gifted by all” was popular in Ancient Greece, so girls were given it. It is known that this was the name of the daughter of Erechtheus, the daughter of the king of Athens. Pandora is also the protagonist of the drama of Sophocles and the comedy of Nikophon. The myth of a beautiful girl created from earth and water, for whom Athena wove outfits, turned out to be tenacious and penetrated into the European culture of the New Time. In the 17th century, when ready-made clothing began to be sold, pandoras began to be called mannequins for demonstrating samples of fashionable styles. But there are other meanings of this word. If you ask an astronomer what Pandora is, he will immediately answer you that it is one of the planets. It rotates in the orbit of this planet together with its “husband” - Epithemaeus. And the name of Pandora was given to a surprisingly tenacious virus found by biologists in the waters of Chile and Australia. In addition, in the Republic of Khakassia, on the shore of the White Iyus, there is a cave called Pandora’s Box.

Pandora's Box - the meaning of phraseology.

Pandora's Box?! Allegorically, this is the source of various troubles and misfortunes. For many, this phraseological unit is extremely understandable and clear, but not many know the history of its origin.

History of the phrase " Pandora's Box"roots in an ancient Greek legend. According to which, Zeus ruled the world from the sacred Olympus, and the people living on Earth did not know sorrow and troubles, they were happy and content. But they didn’t know fire on Earth! To help people, Prometheus stole the sacred fire from Olympus and brought it to Earth. For this offense, Zeus decided to punish not only Prometheus, but also the people who dared to use this gift.

Having mixed water with earth, the god of fire Hephaestus created a woman. The gods endowed her with beauty and cunning, eloquence and curiosity. Translated from Greek, Pandora means gifted by all, therefore in further legends the woman is called Pandora. Zeus himself presented the girl with an exquisite casket, which he forbade opening under any circumstances. It is this casket in mythology and called Pandora's box

Once on Earth, the girl could not resist her curiosity and still opened an amazing casket. From him at that very moment, troubles and misfortunes, hatred and fear, illness and bitterness burst out onto the Earth. These were the gifts that Zeus prepared to punish humanity for disobedience.
Pandora managed to slam the ill-fated vessel when only hope remained at its bottom.

Almost every nation has expressions that carry a special meaning. They are used in situations appropriate for a certain meaning. Of course, we are talking about phraseological units. But to understand the meaning of a particular expression, you need to have information about its origin. As a rule, these sayings have their origins in some myth, fairy tale, legend or history. For example, the meaning of the phraseological unit “Pandora's box” can be found in an ancient Greek legend.

The myth of the woman “gifted in every way”

According to this legend, people once lived long and enjoyed excellent health. There was Paradise on Earth, and no one knew any troubles. But Prometheus stole fire from the Gods from the sacred Olympus and gave it to people. For this, the angry Almighty decided to punish humanity and sent Pandora to Earth. Hera gifted her with cunning and cunning, Athena gave her beautiful clothes, and Aphrodite made her indescribably beautiful. And Zeus provided the girl with a casket, which in mythology is called “Pandora’s Box”. The significance of this gift can be explained by the fact that the Gods still loved people and gave them a chance. However, the girl disobeyed Zeus and opened this casket. All troubles, illnesses, fears and hatred escaped from him, and at the bottom only hope remained at the behest of Zeus.

The meaning of the phraseological unit "Pandora's box"

This expression, as can be seen from the above summary of the myth, carries the meaning of “the source of misfortunes and troubles.” That is, you cannot do something that can obviously lead to bad consequences. This saying is firmly established in many languages, and this phenomenon can be explained by the fact that there is a strongly associated meaning. That is, the name Pandora refers only to mythology, this combination is not found anywhere else and carries only one meaning.

Using an Expression

The meaning of the phraseological unit “Pandora's box” began to be used only in modern times. It is interesting that earlier the name of the girl (a character in Sophocles’ drama) was mentioned as a common noun, which was used to call mannequin dolls for displaying clothes back in the 17th century.

This plot has become very popular in our time. Thus, the famous French essayist J.C. Bailly created and presented in his interpretation the drama “Pandora” in 1992. This name can also be found in the works of talented writers of the Soviet period, the Strugatsky brothers, in particular in a series of works, a representative book of which is “Noon, 22nd Century”. Here, the name Pandora is given to a planet covered with jungle thickets, where various dangerous creatures live (crustaspiders, takhorgs and others).

Also, the meaning of the phraseological unit “Pandora’s box” is used in Hollywood film adaptations, for example “Lara Croft. Tomb Raider" in the "Cradle of Life" series uses this element, which is one of the main artifacts. Often a mythological trope is present in hero adaptations, such as the series about the warrior princess Xena. A fictional character appears there - Pandora's granddaughter with a casket.

In addition to the use of this expression in fantastic and realistic works, it can also be found in everyday life. A small asteroid and a satellite (discovered in 1980) are named after Pandora. A virus was also discovered in 2013, which has a huge number of gene sets (over 2000). It was found on the coast of Chile and in some bodies of water in Australia. A group of scientists from France who discovered this “find” dubbed it “Pandora’s box.”

Here we looked at what “Pandora's box” means, and also gave examples of the use of this expression in real life and literary works. This phraseological unit is extremely popular, since none of the other similar statements reflect the meaning of any situation with negative consequences.