In Hesiod’s story of Pandora’s box, Pandora’s original container was a jar.
Hesiod used the Greek word pithos, which referred to a large earthenware storage jar. Such jars were used in ancient Greece for commodities including grain, oil, and wine. The container in the myth therefore belonged to a familiar household and agricultural world rather than being a small wooden box.
The modern phrase “Pandora’s box” arose partly from a translation history. In the sixteenth century, the humanist Erasmus translated pithos into the Latin word pyxis, meaning a box or small container. That choice influenced later European retellings, and the box image eventually became much more familiar than the original jar.
The wording matters because it changes the visual scale of the story. A large jar could plausibly hold a multitude of afflictions, while “box” suggests a compact object. Despite the historical distinction, “Pandora’s box” remains the established English expression.