In Hesiod’s Greek myth, the vessel called Pandora’s “box” is a pithos.
A pithos was a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world for commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Hesiod’s Works and Days uses the Greek word pithos for the container associated with Pandora. The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” arose from a Renaissance translation choice rather than from the exact object described in the earliest surviving account.
The mistranslation became extraordinarily influential because “box” makes the story compact and memorable. In archaeological contexts, pithoi could be large enough to stand near or above a person, so the ancient vessel was not necessarily a small casket.
This distinction does not change the myth’s central action: Pandora opens the container, and harmful things escape. It does clarify why scholars often refer to the story as Pandora’s jar when discussing Hesiod’s original wording.