In Hesiod’s myth, Pandora opened a jar to release human troubles. The ancient Greek word pithos refers to a large storage jar, commonly used for grain, oil, or other goods, rather than a small modern box.
Hesiod tells the story in Works and Days, where Zeus gives Pandora a container and forbids her to open it. When the container is opened, destructive forces escape and spread among humanity. Hope remains inside after Pandora closes the vessel, although the exact interpretation of that detail has been debated since antiquity.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” arose much later through translation and artistic tradition. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus translated pithos as pyxis, a Greek word associated with a box or small container, helping establish the modern expression. Modern retellings therefore usually show a box, while the earliest surviving literary account specifies a jar. This is one of the best-known examples of a translation shaping a myth’s popular image.