In Hesiod’s Works and Days, a pithos held Pandora’s troubles. A pithos was a large ancient Greek storage jar, usually made of clay and used for commodities such as grain, oil, or wine.
Hesiod does not describe a small hinged box. The Greek word pithos refers to a substantial storage container, and the myth’s original image is therefore closer to a large jar than to the compact container shown in many modern illustrations.
The “box” version became influential through Renaissance translations and adaptations. Erasmus of Rotterdam used the Latin expression pyxis Pandorae, meaning “Pandora’s box,” in his Adagia. Pyxis could refer to a small box, and that wording helped redirect the image in European languages.
The change is one of the best-known examples of a translation shaping popular mythology. Modern speakers usually say “Pandora’s box,” but scholars discussing Hesiod often restore the original vessel by calling it a pithos. The distinction changes the visual setting without changing the story’s central theme: the release of human troubles.