The large storage jar in the original Pandora myth is called a pithos.
A pithos was a substantial Greek storage vessel, commonly used for products such as grain, oil, or wine. It could be much larger than an ordinary household pot and was often placed partly in the ground for stability and cool storage. The word is therefore more precise than the familiar English expression “Pandora’s box.”
The “box” wording became common through later translation and retelling. In Hesiod’s Greek account, Pandora receives a pithos containing evils or troubles, and opening it releases them into the world. The precise contents and the role of hope have generated long-running translation debates.
An amphora is another Greek vessel, usually recognizable by its two handles and narrower shape, but it is not the container named in the Pandora story. Pithos is the canonical term used by classical scholars for the myth’s original jar.