In the oldest Greek version of Pandora’s myth, the famous container was actually called a jar. Hesiod used the Greek word pithos, a large storage vessel, rather than a small box.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed much later through translation history. In the sixteenth century, the humanist Erasmus translated the Greek vessel as a Latin pyxis, meaning a box or small container. That choice helped establish the wording now used in English and many other languages.
A pithos was a substantial ceramic jar used in the ancient Mediterranean for storing goods such as grain, oil, or wine. Its size and practical purpose differ greatly from the compact hinged box often shown in modern illustrations.
The myth’s central action remains the same in later retellings: Pandora opens the container, releasing troubles into the world, and something remains inside. The title “Pandora’s box” is therefore culturally familiar but not a literal description of Hesiod’s original vessel.