Hesiod uses the Greek word pithos for the container later known as Pandora’s box.
A pithos was a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world, often for grain, oil, or wine. It was substantially different from the small hinged box suggested by the modern English phrase. In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora opens this vessel and releases the miseries that then afflict humanity.
The “box” wording became standard through later retellings and translation history. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus is widely credited with translating the Greek pithos as the Latin pyxis, a term associated with a box or container. That choice helped establish the image familiar in European languages.
Pithos and amphora are not interchangeable terms. An amphora is typically a transport or storage vessel with two handles and a narrower neck, while a pithos is a large jar, often much bigger. The exact shape of Hesiod’s mythic vessel is not illustrated in the poem, but its name supports “jar” as the more literal translation.