In Greek mythology, Pandora’s jar released evils into the human world when it was opened.
Hesiod describes the container as holding destructive troubles that had previously been kept away from human life. Once the jar is opened, these evils escape and spread among people. The myth therefore explains, in symbolic form, why suffering, disease, labor, and other hardships exist in the human condition.
The story is often summarized as “Pandora released all the evils,” although translations differ in wording and in the exact list of troubles. The key idea is that harmful conditions enter the world from the opened vessel. Hope remains inside or is otherwise treated separately in the passage, which has produced centuries of debate about whether hope was preserved for humans or withheld from them.
“Evils” is more precise than answers such as “death” or “disease,” because the Greek text presents a plurality of troubles rather than one single released object. The familiar box phrase also obscures the original jar, or pithos.