In Hesiod’s myth, Pandora opened a jar, not a box.
The earliest surviving literary versions of the story appear in works by the Greek poet Hesiod. His wording refers to a pithos, a large earthenware storage container commonly used in the ancient Greek world. Such jars could hold grain, oil, or other goods and were much larger and more substantial than the small boxes shown in many modern illustrations.
The “box” wording became established through later translation history. Erasmus of Rotterdam translated the Greek term into Latin as pyxis, meaning box, and the familiar phrase spread through European languages. As a result, “Pandora’s box” is now the standard expression even though it does not precisely match Hesiod’s original object.
The myth says the jar contained evils that escaped when Pandora opened it. Hope remained associated with the vessel, although ancient interpretations differ over whether it stayed inside or was released afterward.