In Hesiod’s account of Pandora, the container she opened was a pithos, a large Greek storage jar. The word appears in the Works and Days, where the vessel contains the troubles that later spread among humanity.
A pithos was normally used to store commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Large examples were often made from coarse pottery and could be partly buried for stability and coolness. This makes the original object substantially different from the small hinged box shown in many modern illustrations.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” became established through later retellings and translation history. Erasmus used the Latin expression pyxis, meaning box, in the sixteenth century, helping shape the familiar wording. The original Greek story is therefore more accurately described as Pandora’s jar, although “Pandora’s box” remains the standard English name.