In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a pithos, a large storage jar, in the earliest surviving version of her story.
The Greek poet Hesiod calls the container a pithos in Works and Days. A pithos was a substantial earthenware vessel used to store commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. It was not a small decorated box in the modern sense.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed later through translation and literary tradition. The Latin writer Erasmus used the Latin word pyxis, meaning box, when translating the Greek account. That choice helped establish the expression now used for an action that releases many unforeseen problems.
The jar’s contents are usually described as evils, diseases, and troubles that had previously been kept away from humanity. Pandora closed the vessel after they escaped, leaving Hope inside. Some interpretations treat Hope as a comfort retained for humans, while others debate whether its confinement is itself ambiguous.