In the Pandora myth, evils escaped from the container before it was closed.
Hesiod describes Pandora opening the vessel and releasing harmful forces into the world. These include illnesses and other troubles that had previously been kept away from human beings. The myth offers a traditional explanation for why suffering is part of mortal life.
The story is often retold as though one clearly named object, such as “all the evils,” was listed in a detailed catalogue. Hesiod’s account is more poetic and compact. Later writers and artists expanded the contents into symbols of war, greed, jealousy, famine, and disease.
The expression “open Pandora’s box” now means to begin a process that creates many unforeseen problems. That modern idiom preserves the myth’s basic sequence: an apparently contained danger is released, and the consequences are difficult to reverse.