Hesiod actually described a pithos, a large storage jar, rather than a small box in the Greek story of Pandora’s box.
In Works and Days, Hesiod uses the Greek word pithos. A pithos was a substantial ceramic container used in the ancient Mediterranean for storing goods such as grain, oil, or wine. It could be large enough to stand on the floor and was not shaped like the hinged treasure chest pictured in many modern illustrations.
The “box” wording became standard through later translation and retelling. The exact route from pithos to box is debated in discussions of the myth, but the difference is clear: the earliest surviving literary account does not present Pandora opening a modern-style box.
This distinction matters because it is one of the myth’s most common cultural mix-ups. The phrase remains “Pandora’s box,” while the ancient object was a storage jar.