In Greek mythology, the container later called Pandora’s box is a pithos.
A pithos was a large storage jar used in ancient Greece for commodities such as grain, wine, and oil. Hesiod’s Greek text describes Pandora receiving a pithos, not a small box. The vessel belongs to the everyday material culture of the ancient Mediterranean.
The “box” wording arose through later translation and retelling. The Greek word pithos was rendered into Latin as pyxis in some traditions, and pyxis can mean a box or small container. Renaissance interpretations helped establish the familiar image of Pandora opening a box.
The distinction matters because many modern illustrations show a decorated chest, while the earliest literary account points to a substantial jar. Hesiod’s story appears in Works and Days, where the container is opened and troubles spread among humanity. The myth does not originally specify a modern hinged box.