Hesiod uses the Greek word pithos for the container associated with Pandora. A pithos was a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world, commonly for products such as grain, wine, or oil.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed through later translation and tradition. Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Latin translation helped establish the idea of a box by rendering the Greek container as pyxis, a smaller box or casket. The popular expression therefore differs from the object described in Hesiod’s Greek text.
A pithos was not simply a decorative household jar. Large examples could be substantial storage vessels, sometimes buried partly in the ground. This practical meaning adds a material-historical dimension to the myth’s container.
The word is distinct from other Greek vessel terms. An amphora usually has two handles and a narrower form, a krater is associated with mixing wine and water, and a kylix is a drinking cup. Those vessels are not the container named in Hesiod’s account.