In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a pithos, a large storage jar later popularly called Pandora’s box.
The earliest surviving literary account appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, written in ancient Greek. Hesiod describes a container holding the troubles released into the world, but the Greek word is pithos, meaning a large earthenware storage jar. Such jars were used for commodities including grain, oil, and wine.
The familiar word “box” developed much later through translation and retelling. Renaissance writers helped popularize the image of a box, and that form became standard in European languages. The original jar is therefore an important distinction between the ancient myth and its modern expression.
A pithos was not a small personal container. It could be large enough to store substantial supplies, making it a fitting mythological vessel for forces that would affect all humanity.