In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a jar, although later retellings call it a box.
Hesiod’s Greek text uses the word pithos, meaning a large storage jar or earthenware container. The vessel held evils that would spread among humanity once opened. The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” arose much later because a Renaissance translation rendered pithos as a Latin word associated with a box or container.
This difference is a common source of confusion. The Greek myth does not originally describe a small wooden box with a hinged lid. Large jars were important household and agricultural containers in the ancient Mediterranean, so the image fits Hesiod’s setting better than the modern phrase does.
The jar’s contents are also described differently across retellings. Hesiod says troubles escaped, while hope remained inside. Later art and popular culture often show Pandora opening a decorative box and releasing smoke, insects, or monsters.