In Hesiod’s Greek myth of Pandora, the container was actually described as a jar.
Hesiod uses the ancient Greek word pithos, which refers to a large storage jar. Such vessels were used in the ancient Greek world for commodities including grain, oil, and wine. The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed later through translation and artistic tradition.
The mistranslation is usually associated with the Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus. When he translated the Greek term into Latin, he used pyxis, meaning a small box or container. That wording helped establish the expression used in English and many other languages.
This detail does not change the myth’s central event: Pandora opens a sealed container and releases destructive forces. It does, however, show how later translators and artists reshaped classical stories. Ancient vase paintings and modern illustrations often depict a box because the later form became culturally dominant.