In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a jar, despite the traditional English name “Pandora’s box.”
The earliest surviving literary account appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, written in ancient Greece. Hesiod describes a large storage vessel, using the Greek word pithos, rather than a small box. The vessel contained troubles that escaped into the world when Pandora removed its lid.
The “box” wording became common much later through translation and artistic tradition. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam translated the Greek story into Latin and used pyxis, a word associated with a box or small container. That choice helped establish the familiar phrase.
The myth is often mixed up with unrelated stories about locked chests or magical containers. In the Greek version, Pandora is the person who opens the vessel, and the released contents explain why suffering and hardship exist among humans.