In Greek mythology, Pandora’s container was sealed with a lid when it was given to her. Hesiod describes the vessel as a jar, or pithos, rather than specifying a lock, chain, or wax seal.
The lid matters because the myth’s central action is its removal. After Pandora opens the container, destructive forces escape into the world. The story does not depend on a mechanical locking device; its tension comes from the sealed vessel and Pandora’s curiosity or inability to resist opening it, depending on the retelling.
Later paintings and popular adaptations often add elaborate boxes, locks, keys, or decorative seals. Those visual details are artistic inventions rather than the essential wording of Hesiod’s account. Erasmus’s later translation also helped replace the ancient jar with the familiar box.
The remaining presence of hope in the container has generated long-running interpretation, but the physical detail is straightforward: the vessel had a lid that Pandora opened.