The Greek word Erasmus translated as “box” in the Pandora story was pithos. In Hesiod’s original account, Pandora receives a large storage jar rather than a small box.
A pithos was a substantial Greek vessel used to store commodities such as grain, wine, or oil. Its size and practical purpose differ greatly from the compact container shown in many modern illustrations. The familiar English expression “Pandora’s box” developed through a translation error or adaptation associated with the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus.
Erasmus rendered the Greek vessel with the Latin word pyxis, meaning a box or small container. That choice helped establish the phrase that became standard in European languages, even though “Pandora’s jar” would be closer to Hesiod’s wording.
The original Greek term is not pyxis. Pyxis is the later Latin word used in the translation tradition; pithos is the vessel named in the myth’s ancient Greek context.