In Hesiod’s account, Pandora opened a jar, traditionally called Pandora’s Box.
The famous expression comes from a translation history. Hesiod’s Greek text describes a large storage vessel, commonly identified as a pithos. A pithos was a substantial ceramic container used in the ancient Mediterranean for storing goods such as grain, wine, or oil.
The “box” wording became established after later Latin and European retellings. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus is widely associated with translating the Greek vessel as a box, helping create the phrase familiar in English. The myth says that, after the jar was opened, harmful conditions escaped into the human world.
This detail is one of the most common mix-ups in the story. “Pandora’s box” is the standard expression, but “jar” is closer to Hesiod’s original wording.