In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a jar that released troubles 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. Hesiod tells the story in Works and Days, composed in the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. Pandora was created as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus stole fire for mortals.
According to Hesiod, Pandora removed the jar’s lid, allowing diseases, toil, and other hardships to escape. Hope remained inside, although the precise meaning of that detail has been debated because the Greek word elpis can refer broadly to expectation, not only optimism. The story therefore is more complicated than the modern idea that hope simply comforts people after disaster.
“Box” became standard in later retellings because European translators and artists found it more familiar than pithos. The myth’s central image remains a warning about curiosity, unintended consequences, and the irreversible release of hidden problems.