In Hesiod’s Works and Days, the original Greek container later called Pandora’s box was a jar.
Hesiod uses the Greek word pithos, a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world. Pandora receives instructions concerning the container, but the story describes its opening as the event that allows evils to spread among humans. Hope remains inside, depending on how the passage is interpreted.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” became standard in many modern languages even though box is not the object in Hesiod’s account. The change is commonly linked to a sixteenth-century Latin translation by Erasmus, who used a term meaning box or container. Modern illustrations therefore often show a small ornate box, while the earlier literary image was a substantial jar.