In the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box, Pandora opened a jar.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” comes from a translation history. Hesiod’s early Greek account describes a pithos, a large storage jar or earthenware vessel, rather than a hinged box. The Greek word was later rendered into Latin as pyxis, which means a box or small container. Renaissance retellings helped establish the box image that remains standard in English.
The vessel contained evils that escaped into the human world when Pandora opened it. Hesiod’s story therefore concerns a jar, although “Pandora’s Box” is now the fixed expression in many languages. The detail is often confused because modern paintings, books, and films usually show a small decorated box instead of a large ceramic storage vessel.
The container’s exact appearance varies across later art, but its narrative function stays the same: opening it releases troubles that had previously been confined.