In Hesiod’s Works and Days, the storage jar associated with Pandora is commonly identified by the Greek word “pithos.” A pithos was a large vessel used in the ancient Greek world for storing materials such as grain, oil, or wine.
Hesiod does not describe a small hinged box in the modern sense. The later phrase “Pandora’s box” arose through translation history and became much more influential than the original vessel description.
A pithos was usually a substantial container, sometimes large enough to be used for storage in a household or building. This makes the familiar miniature box an important artistic and linguistic transformation rather than a precise picture of Hesiod’s wording.
The distinction matters because “Pandora’s box” is now an established idiom in English. The original Greek story, however, is tied to a storage jar, and the word pithos is the standard term used when explaining that difference.