In Hesiod’s Pandora story, Pandora opened a pithos, a large storage jar.
The Greek word used in the ancient account is pithos, a substantial vessel commonly associated with storing agricultural goods such as grain, oil, or wine. It was not necessarily a small box in the modern sense. The famous English expression “Pandora’s box” developed through later translation and artistic tradition.
The container’s shape matters because it shows how a translation helped transform the image of the myth. Renaissance writers and translators popularized “box,” and that wording became the standard phrase in English. Ancient Greek pottery and archaeological evidence show that pithoi could be very large, sometimes standing taller than a person.
The object is sometimes called a jar, vessel, or urn in modern retellings. “A pithos” is the most precise answer for the Greek term. The myth does not require the container to be a locked chest, jeweled box, or small household casket, despite those common illustrations.