In the earliest Greek version of Pandora’s story, a jar held the troubles.
Hesiod used the Greek word pithos, meaning a large storage jar, in Works and Days. Pandora opened this container, releasing evils into the world. The jar could be a substantial household or storage vessel rather than the small box imagined in many modern illustrations.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” developed through a translation tradition. The Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus translated pithos into Latin as pyxis, a word associated with a box or small container. That choice helped establish the familiar English expression, even though it does not match Hesiod’s original object.
The container’s contents are often described simply as evils or troubles. The myth’s central point is that suffering became widespread among humans after the container was opened, while one thing remained inside.