In Greek mythology, Pandora releases evils when she opens the vessel given to her. Hesiod describes destructive forces escaping into the world, bringing suffering and hardship to humanity.
The ancient Greek text does not originally call the container a box. Hesiod uses the word pithos, meaning a large storage jar. The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” developed later, especially after the sixteenth-century Latin scholar Erasmus translated the vessel as a box. The myth’s core event, however, remains Pandora’s opening of the container and the escape of evils.
Retellings often list the released forces as diseases, toil, and other troubles. Their exact wording varies among translations, so “evils” is the safest canonical summary. The story explains why human life contains suffering while preserving a remaining force associated with hope.