In Hesiod’s Greek myth, Pandora opened a jar, releasing troubles into the world.
The earliest surviving version appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, written in ancient Greek verse. Hesiod calls the container a pithos, a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world. The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” came much later and reflects translation history rather than Hesiod’s original wording.
After the jar was opened, destructive forces escaped and spread among humanity. The story explains why human life contains sickness, toil, and other hardships. It is not a modern story about curiosity alone; it is part of Hesiod’s account of the consequences of Zeus’s punishment after fire was given to humans.
Readers sometimes assume that “box” is the exact ancient object. It is not. The jar detail is important because pithoi were substantial household containers, not small boxes. The surviving myth does not describe Pandora opening a hinged wooden container.