In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora opened a jar, although the modern phrase calls it Pandora’s box.
The ancient Greek text uses the word pithos, which means a large storage jar or container. Such vessels were used in the ancient Mediterranean for commodities including grain, wine, and oil. Hesiod’s version does not describe the object as a small wooden box. The “box” wording developed through later translation and retelling.
After Pandora opened the container, harmful forces escaped into the world. Hesiod’s account connects the event with the human experience of disease, toil, and other hardships. Hope remained inside when Pandora replaced the lid, though the exact interpretation of Hope’s role has been debated by readers and scholars.
The jar-versus-box distinction is one of the best-known details about the myth. Modern paintings, books, films, and games commonly show a hinged box because that image is familiar, but the earliest literary account points to a jar. “Pandora’s box” remains the established English expression.