The ancient Greek storage jar in Pandora’s story is called a pithos.
A pithos was a large ceramic container used in the ancient Greek world for storing commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. In Hesiod’s Works and Days, the vessel associated with Pandora is described with the Greek word pithos. It was not the small hinged container suggested by the modern expression “Pandora’s box.”
The “box” wording became influential through later European interpretations and translations. The change may have been encouraged by confusion involving the Greek term for a container, or by Latin and Renaissance retellings that favored a box-like image.
This distinction matters because the size and function of a pithos affect how the story is imagined. A huge storage jar fits ancient household life and makes the myth’s later compact phrase a notable example of cultural reinterpretation.