In Greek mythology, the original container in Pandora’s story was a jar.
The earliest surviving account appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, written in ancient Greek. Hesiod uses the word pithos, which means a large storage jar or earthenware container. The familiar expression “Pandora’s box” developed later, after the Greek term was translated into Latin as pyxis, a word that could mean a box or casket.
The jar was not necessarily a small household vessel. A pithos was a substantial clay container used in the ancient Mediterranean for storing commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. This historical meaning helps explain why “Pandora’s jar” is more faithful to Hesiod’s wording than “Pandora’s box.”
Modern retellings usually show a decorative box because that image is visually simple and has become fixed in popular culture. The change concerns the container, not the central story about destructive forces escaping into the human world.