In Greek mythology, Hesiod called Pandora’s container a pithos.
A pithos was a large storage jar used in ancient Greece for commodities such as grain, wine, and oil. In Hesiod’s account, Pandora receives a sealed vessel and opens it, releasing troubles into the world. The ancient Greek word is pithos, not the modern English “box.”
The “box” wording arose through a long translation history. The sixteenth-century humanist Erasmus rendered the Greek term into Latin as pyxis, meaning a small box or container, and that image became dominant in European languages. The original story therefore involves a jar-like vessel, although artistic depictions often show a lidded box.
Hesiod does not describe a neat wooden box in the modern sense. The distinction matters because pithoi were substantial earthenware containers, often large enough for household or agricultural storage.