In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a jar. Hesiod uses the Greek word pithos, which refers to a large storage jar rather than a small modern box.
A pithos was a substantial ceramic container used in the ancient Greek world for storing commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. The choice of such a vessel gives the myth a familiar household object while also allowing it to contain the world’s troubles symbolically.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” became standard in later European languages because of a Renaissance translation tradition. The Latin word pyxis can mean a box or small container, and that wording helped shift the image away from Hesiod’s jar.
The distinction matters because “jar” is closer to the earliest surviving literary account. Modern retellings, artworks, and idioms overwhelmingly use a box, so the original object is often misidentified.