The Greek name of the jar commonly called Pandora’s box is pithos.
A pithos was a large Greek storage jar used for commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. In Hesiod’s account, Pandora opens this kind of container, not a small hinged box. The Greek word was translated into Latin as pyxis in some traditions, and pyxis can mean a box or container. That translation history helped the modern expression “Pandora’s box” become standard.
The distinction matters because the container’s original form changes the imagery of the myth. A pithos suggests a substantial household or storage vessel, while a box suggests a portable object. Ancient Greek art and later European art often supplied their own visual versions, so illustrations do not always reflect the wording of Hesiod’s poem.