Pithos is the Greek word for the large storage jar in Hesiod’s original Pandora story.
In Works and Days, Hesiod uses the noun pithos for the container Pandora opens. A pithos was a large earthenware vessel used in the ancient Greek world to store commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. It was substantially different from the small hinged box shown in many modern illustrations.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed through translation history. The Latin writer Erasmus used the word pyxis, meaning a box or container, when translating the Greek passage, and that choice helped establish the later expression. The jar detail matters because it shows how a widely known myth can change through language and artistic convention. “Pandora’s pithos” would be closer to Hesiod’s wording, although “Pandora’s box” is now the standard English phrase.