In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a large jar rather than a small box.
The earliest surviving literary account, Hesiod’s Works and Days, uses the Greek word pithos for the container. A pithos was a large storage vessel, usually made of pottery and used for provisions. It could be tall and substantial, unlike the compact hinged box shown in many modern illustrations.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed through later translation and cultural transmission. Renaissance writers helped establish the box image, and artists, children’s books, and popular media made it dominant in English. As a result, many people know the moral of the myth without knowing that the object in Hesiod was a jar.
This is not merely a visual technicality. The vessel’s original form shows how a translation choice can reshape a myth’s imagery. The expression remains idiomatic, but scholars commonly mention the pithos when discussing the ancient version.