In Hesiod’s myth of Pandora’s Box, evils escaped after Pandora opened the sealed container.
In Works and Days, Pandora lifts the lid of the storage jar and releases the troubles that had previously remained away from human life. Hesiod describes diseases and countless other evils spreading among people, bringing suffering into the world.
The passage is an etiological explanation: it explains why humans experience pain, illness, and hardship. The container is not described as holding a collection of modern, named “sins” in a neat list. The Greek wording refers broadly to evils and destructive conditions.
The popular English expression “Pandora’s box” is based on a translation tradition. Hesiod used pithos, a large jar, not the smaller box imagined by later readers. The essential sequence remains the same in most retellings: Pandora opens the vessel, evils escape, and one final presence remains inside.