In Hesiod’s original account, Pandora opened a jar rather than a box.
The Greek word used in Works and Days is pithos, which refers to a large storage jar. Pithoi were substantial vessels used in the ancient Greek world for storing commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. The image is therefore different from the small hinged box common in modern illustrations.
The “box” wording arose through a later translation tradition. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus translated the Greek term into Latin as pyxis, a word associated with a box or container. That choice helped establish the expression “Pandora’s box” in European languages.
The change in container did not alter the myth’s central event: harmful forces escaped into the human world when the vessel was opened. Modern retellings frequently preserve the box image, but references to the original text should identify the object as a jar or pithos.