In the earliest Greek version of the Pandora myth, Pandora opened a pithos, a large storage jar.
The Greek word pithos referred to a substantial ceramic container used for storing commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Hesiod’s Works and Days uses this term when describing the vessel associated with Pandora and the release of human troubles.
The word “box” became standard in later retellings because the Greek vessel was translated into a Latin term meaning box or container. That translation helped create the familiar English expression “Pandora’s box,” even though a large jar better matches the ancient text.
This is one of the myth’s most persistent details that popular culture changes. Images usually show a hinged box, while ancient Greek artistic and literary context points to a broad storage jar.