In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora is the first woman to receive a jar from Zeus. The jar is the container that holds destructive forces and is later opened, allowing them to spread among humanity.
The surviving Greek wording refers to a large storage vessel, commonly translated as a jar or pithos. Hesiod does not use the modern English phrase “Pandora’s box”; that wording became established through later translation and popular retelling. A pithos was a substantial vessel used in the ancient Greek world for storing materials such as grain, oil, or wine.
The jar is central to the myth’s explanation of human suffering. After its contents escape, only hope remains inside according to the traditional account. This detail has prompted centuries of debate about whether hope is meant as a blessing, a consolation, or another ambiguous element of Zeus’s plan.