Hesiod used the Greek word pithos for the vessel later called Pandora’s box. A pithos was a large storage jar, commonly used in the ancient Greek world for products such as grain, wine, or oil.
The word “box” became standard through later translation and retelling, even though Hesiod’s vessel was not a small hinged container. The large-jar interpretation fits the agricultural and domestic setting of Works and Days, where storage vessels were familiar parts of everyday life. The change from jar to box also helped create the modern idiom’s visual image.
An amphora is another kind of Greek vessel, usually recognizable by its two handles and narrower body, but it is not the specific word used for Pandora’s container in Hesiod’s account. Ancient art and later literature have varied in how they picture the object, while English-language tradition has preserved “Pandora’s box.”