The Greek word for the large storage jar in Hesiod’s account of Pandora is pithos.
A pithos was a substantial ceramic vessel used in the ancient Greek world for storing commodities. Depending on its size and setting, such jars could hold products including grain, oil, or wine. The term is important because it identifies the original object in the Pandora story as a practical storage container rather than a small box.
The English phrase “Pandora’s box” emerged through translation history. In the second century CE, the Greek writer Lucian referred to Pandora’s vessel using a term associated with a box, and later Latin tradition helped establish the familiar form. Erasmus’s sixteenth-century use of the Latin expression pyxis Pandorae also influenced the modern wording.
Amphora, krater, and kylix are genuine ancient Greek vessel terms, which makes them plausible alternatives. An amphora commonly had two handles, a krater mixed wine and water, and a kylix was a drinking cup. None is Hesiod’s pithos.