The common English expression for the mythological container opened by Pandora is “Pandora’s box.”
The phrase describes a source of unforeseen troubles: once opened, it releases problems that are difficult or impossible to contain. It is now used in everyday English for a decision, discovery, or action that creates many unexpected complications. The expression comes from the later popular form of the ancient myth.
The wording is historically imprecise. Hesiod’s Greek account refers to a pithos, a large storage jar. During the Renaissance, Erasmus translated the vessel into Latin as pyxis, a box-like container, helping establish the expression that became standard in European languages.
The phrase also changes the emphasis of the myth. In modern usage, the “box” is usually a metaphor for consequences, while the ancient story includes the creation of Pandora, Prometheus’s theft of fire, Zeus’s punishment, and the fate of hope. Even so, “Pandora’s box” remains the canonical English name for the story and its central image.