The Greek name of Pandora’s container in Hesiod’s Works and Days is pithos. A pithos was a large storage jar used in the ancient Mediterranean, often for products such as grain, oil, or wine.
Hesiod’s wording is important because the famous English expression “Pandora’s box” is not a literal translation of the earliest surviving Greek account. The Renaissance scholar Erasmus helped popularize the box version after translating or interpreting the vessel through the Latin term pyxis, meaning a small box.
A pithos could be substantial and difficult to move, unlike the compact box shown in many modern illustrations. Artistic traditions consequently vary: some depict a jar, while others follow the familiar box-shaped image.
The container’s exact physical appearance does not change the myth’s central event. When it is opened, destructive forces spread into the human world, while hope remains inside according to the usual translation of Hesiod’s ending.