The Greek word for the jar in Hesiod’s original Pandora story is pithos.
A pithos was a large storage vessel used in ancient Greece for commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Hesiod used the word pithos, not a term specifically meaning “box.” The familiar expression arose much later through translation and retelling.
The change is usually linked to the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus. When Erasmus rendered the story into Latin, he used the word pyxis, meaning a small box or casket. That translation helped establish the image now known throughout the English-speaking world.
This distinction matters because the container’s size changes the visual impression of the myth. A pithos could be large enough to store household supplies, whereas a box suggests a compact object. The central narrative remains the same: Pandora opens the container, releasing troubles into the world while hope remains inside.