In Greek mythology, Pandora was originally said to open a jar, not a box.
The earliest surviving versions of the story appear in Hesiod’s Works and Days and Theogony, composed in ancient Greece. Hesiod describes a large storage vessel using the Greek word pithos, a jar or container commonly used for grain, oil, or wine. Pandora opens it, releasing troubles into the world while hope remains inside.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” arose later through a translation tradition. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus rendered the Greek container as a Latin pyxis, meaning a box or small container, helping establish the wording used in many modern languages.
The story is therefore often retold with a literal box, but “jar” is the more historically accurate answer for Hesiod’s original account. The tale also explains why human life contains suffering while hope survives as a separate element.