The Greek word for the container in Hesiod’s original Pandora myth is “pithos.” A pithos was a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world, often for agricultural products such as grain, oil, or wine.
Hesiod’s Works and Days does not describe a small hinged box. It uses the word pithos for the vessel that Pandora opens, releasing troubles into the human world. The familiar English phrase “Pandora’s box” developed later because translators and writers rendered the vessel as a box.
The translation history matters because the physical image changes dramatically. A pithos could be large enough to stand on the floor and store household supplies, whereas a modern box suggests a portable container. Classical artists and later illustrators therefore depict the object in varied forms.
The Greek term is also useful for distinguishing Hesiod’s text from later retellings. “Jar” is a reasonable English translation, but “pithos” is the precise ancient Greek noun.