In Greek mythology, Pandora opened the jar that became known as Pandora’s box.
The story appears most fully in Hesiod’s Works and Days, composed in archaic Greece. Zeus ordered the gods to create Pandora and send her to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Pandora carried a large storage jar, traditionally called a pithos in the Greek text.
When Pandora opened it, the jar released troubles into the world. Hesiod says that Hope remained inside because Pandora replaced the lid before it could escape. Later retellings often call the vessel a box, largely because of a Renaissance mistranslation or reinterpretation of the Greek word.
The myth is therefore not about Pandora finding a modern box. Its central action is Pandora’s opening of a sealed container, an event used to explain why suffering exists among humans. The phrase “opening Pandora’s box” now describes an action that creates many unforeseen problems.