In Hesiod’s Works and Days, the vessel associated with Pandora is called a pithos.
A pithos was a large ancient Greek storage jar, commonly used for materials such as grain, wine, or oil. Hesiod’s Greek text describes Pandora opening this kind of container, not a small hinged box. The famous English expression “Pandora’s box” developed later through translation and retelling.
The distinction matters because the vessel’s scale changes the image of the story. A pithos could be a substantial household container, often large enough to store supplies. Ancient Greek pottery terminology also includes amphorae, kraters, and kylikes, but those are different vessel forms with different uses.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” is now standard in English and is not normally considered incorrect in everyday speech. For classical accuracy, however, pithos is the specific term connected with Hesiod’s account. The myth’s central idea remains the release of troubles into the world, regardless of the vessel’s later popular name.