In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora’s container was originally a jar, not a box.
Hesiod used the Greek term pithos, which referred to a large storage jar. Such jars were used in the ancient Mediterranean for storing commodities including grain, wine, and oil. The pithos in the myth is therefore a familiar household or agricultural vessel in the story’s cultural setting, even though later artists often imagined a small ornate box.
The English expression “Pandora’s box” became standard through a translation associated with the Renaissance scholar Erasmus. His Latin wording used pyxis, a box or small container, rather than preserving Hesiod’s pithos. That translation helped establish the form now recognized in English-speaking culture.
This is why the phrase can be historically misleading while remaining universally understandable. Ancient Greek sources describe a jar; later translations, artworks, and popular retellings turned it into a box. The myth’s central action—opening the container and releasing troubles—remains the same.