Pithos is the Greek term for the large storage jar later turned into Pandora’s “box.”
Hesiod’s Works and Days uses the word pithos for the container in Pandora’s story. A pithos was a large earthenware vessel used in the ancient Greek world to store commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. It was not normally a small wooden box designed to be carried in one hand.
The “box” version became widespread through translation history, especially after the Renaissance scholar Erasmus used a Latin term meaning box or container. That wording influenced later European retellings, paintings, books, and the everyday expression “to open Pandora’s box.”
An amphora was another kind of Greek ceramic vessel, usually with two handles and a narrower body, while a krater was used for mixing wine and water. Neither is the specific container named in Hesiod’s account.