In Greek mythology, Pandora’s container was originally called a pithos, not a box.
A pithos was a large storage jar used in ancient Greece for commodities such as grain, wine, or oil. The Greek poet Hesiod described Pandora opening a pithos, but later translations and artistic traditions turned the vessel into a box.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” became widespread partly because of a Renaissance-era Latin translation. The Latin word pyxis, meaning a small box or container, helped establish the image now recognized in English. The older Greek version therefore involves a storage jar rather than a hinged chest.
The change is important because it shows how a translation can reshape a myth’s imagery while preserving its central idea: one person’s action releases suffering into the world.