In Greek mythology, Pandora’s container was originally a jar, not a box.
The earliest surviving versions of the story use the Greek word pithos, a large storage jar or earthenware vessel. Pandora opened it, releasing troubles into the world, while one thing remained inside. The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” arose much later through a translation tradition.
The confusion is often linked to the sixteenth-century Latin scholar Erasmus. In translating the Greek story, he used the Latin word pyxis, meaning a small box or container, rather than preserving pithos as a jar. That wording became influential in European languages and eventually fixed the popular expression.
The container was therefore not necessarily a small hinged box in the original myth. Ancient Greek pithoi were substantial vessels used for storing goods such as grain, wine, or oil. The jar-versus-box distinction is one of the best-known differences between the original story and its later retellings.