In Hesiod’s Greek myth of Pandora, the container opened—not a box—was a jar. Hesiod uses the Greek word pithos, which generally referred to a large storage jar, often used for commodities such as grain, wine, or oil.
The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” comes from a later translation tradition. In the sixteenth century, the humanist Desiderius Erasmus translated the Greek container with a Latin word associated with a small box or casket. That choice helped establish the expression used in English and many other languages.
The original jar matters because it shows how a translation can reshape a myth’s imagery. Ancient Greek listeners would have pictured a substantial earthenware storage vessel rather than a hinged wooden box. Modern retellings usually keep “box” because it is now the standard expression, even though “jar” is closer to Hesiod’s wording.