In Greek mythology, Pandora’s large storage jar is called a pithos. The word refers to a substantial earthenware container used in the ancient Greek world for storing goods such as grain, wine, or oil. Hesiod’s account uses this kind of vessel rather than a small personal box.
The later expression “Pandora’s box” comes from a translation choice. Erasmus translated the Greek container with pyxis, a Latin term for a box or casket. The English phrase became established even though it does not match the vessel described in the earliest surviving literary account.
A pithos could be tall and large enough to stand on the floor, and some examples were used for storage or burial. That physical scale gives the myth a different visual impression from the compact decorative box common in modern illustrations.
The distinction matters because “pithos” identifies the ancient object while “Pandora’s box” identifies the later idiom. Both terms are connected to the same story, but they belong to different stages of its transmission.