In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a jar rather than a box.
The earliest surviving account appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, written in ancient Greek. Hesiod uses the word pithos, meaning a large storage jar or container. The vessel held troubles that escaped into the human world when Pandora opened it. The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” developed much later through translation and artistic tradition.
The change from jar to box is often associated with Renaissance translations and illustrations. A box is more recognizable to many modern readers than a large earthenware storage jar, so the altered image became standard in popular culture. This does not mean the myth has two equally early versions: Hesiod’s surviving account specifically describes a jar.
The story is also frequently confused with a simple tale of curiosity. In Hesiod, Pandora’s creation is part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus gave humans fire, making the jar episode part of a larger mythic sequence.