In Hesiod’s Pandora story, the container she opened was called a pithos.
A pithos was a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world, commonly for goods such as grain, oil, or wine. Hesiod’s Works and Days describes Pandora receiving a large jar, not a small hinged box. The Greek word pithos is therefore the precise term associated with the earliest written version of the myth.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed later through translation and retelling. The Latin writer Erasmus used the word pyxis, meaning box or casket, when discussing the story, helping establish the form that became standard in many modern languages.
This distinction matters because the container’s shape changes the image of the myth. An ancient storage jar suggests a household vessel, while the modern box is a compact object designed to be opened. Both versions refer to the same famous story.