In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a jar, releasing evils into the world.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” comes from a translation tradition, but the earliest surviving Greek account describes a pithos, a large storage jar. The story appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, composed in the Archaic period. Pandora was created by the gods and sent to humanity as part of Zeus’s punishment after Prometheus gave people fire.
When Pandora opened the container, troubles escaped and spread among humans. Hope remained inside until she closed it again, although ancient and modern writers have debated exactly what that ending means. The “box” wording became especially influential through later Latin and European retellings, even though “jar” is closer to Hesiod’s Greek. The expression now describes an action that creates many unexpected problems.