In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, the container traditionally translated as her “box” is a jar.
The Greek word used by Hesiod is pithos, a large storage jar typically made from clay. Such vessels were used in the ancient Mediterranean for storing commodities including grain, oil, or wine. Hesiod describes the container as holding the troubles that will spread among humanity when it is opened.
The English phrase “Pandora’s box” arose from a long translation history. The Renaissance scholar Erasmus rendered pithos as pyxis, a smaller box or casket, in Latin. That choice helped establish the familiar expression even though it does not match the large earthenware jar implied by the Greek term.
This distinction is one of the most enduring details people get wrong about the myth. Modern paintings, books, and films usually show a small decorated box because that is what the English idiom suggests. In the earliest surviving literary version, however, the object is a jar.