Greek Legend of The Day: The Opening of Pandora’s Box

“Pandora’s Box.” It’s an expression we’ve all heard before. When it comes to the idiom, it usually means starting something that’ll cause trouble. For example: “The parents were afraid of opening Pandora’s Box by buying their daughter a car.” The phrase is used a lot, and it was even the title of a box-set music collection from my dad’s favorite band, Aerosmith, that I fondly remember from my childhood.

But what about the actual Greek myth? Much of it reads very similarly to the Judeo-Christian story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. Another thing to note is how misogynistic both of these myths are, which explains why feminist re-tellings of Greek myths are so popular right now. Pandora, the world’s first woman, gets blamed for causing all the evil and suffering in the world, just like Eve is blamed for this in the Judeo-Christian myth.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the myth of Pandora’s Box and find out what the story was, where it came from, and some other interesting factoids!

Why Nashville, Tennessee, is Known as ‘The Athens of the South’

Of all the places in the world, would you really expect Nashville to be considered the “Athens of the South”? Whenever I mention this to people who didn’t grow up here, I always get a “Really? Not Athens, Georgia?” 

When most people think of Nashville, they think of Music City U.S.A. – with our honky tonks and Music Row. While this is a massive part of this beautiful city, there’s so much more than you’d realize.

The original Athens was known as a mecca for education, dance, and music in ancient Greece. Being named after the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, makes complete sense.