In Greek myth, Hesiod says Pandora opened a pithos, a large storage jar.
A pithos was a substantial earthenware container used in the ancient Greek world for storing commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Hesiod’s word places Pandora’s object in the category of a household or agricultural storage vessel, not a small decorated box. The jar is imagined as holding the troubles that later spread through the human world.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” arose from a later translation tradition. Erasmus’s Latin rendering used pyxis, meaning a box or small container, and that wording helped establish the expression in European languages. The translation became culturally more influential than the original Greek term. Amphora is a plausible alternative because it is another famous Greek vessel, but an amphora is typically a handled transport jar, whereas pithos better matches Hesiod’s large storage container.