In the Greek myth of Pandora, evils escaped from her opened jar and spread across the world.
Hesiod’s Works and Days describes Pandora opening a large storage vessel after it had been sealed. The contents were harmful forces that had previously been kept away from humanity. Once released, they spread among people and helped explain why human life includes suffering, illness, and hardship.
The familiar English phrase says “Pandora’s box,” but the ancient Greek object was a pithos, a large jar or storage container. The word “box” arose from a later translation tradition, especially through Renaissance Latin scholarship. This difference matters because the container in the oldest surviving account was not a small hinged box.
The myth does not present the released evils as individual named monsters. They are generally understood as troubles or misfortunes affecting human life. Hope is treated separately: it remains inside the vessel when Pandora closes it.