In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora’s container is described as a pithos. A pithos was a large Greek storage jar, commonly used for goods such as grain, oil, or wine.
The word matters because Hesiod did not write that Pandora opened a small box. The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed later, partly through the Latin translation of the Greek term and subsequent European retellings.
Hesiod’s account says Zeus arranged for Pandora to receive the jar and open it, releasing troubles into the world. Hope is treated separately in the story, and interpretations differ over whether it remained inside or was held back. The container itself, however, is specifically a pithos in the Greek tradition.
Large storage jars were ordinary objects in the ancient Mediterranean, so the original image was closer to a household or agricultural vessel than to a decorated gift box.