The scientific and archaeological name for the giant clay vessel in Pandora’s story is pithos.
A pithos was a large ancient Greek storage jar, often used for agricultural products such as grain, oil, or wine. The plural form is pithoi. These vessels could be large enough to store substantial supplies and were sometimes partly buried for stability and temperature control.
Hesiod uses pithos for Pandora’s container, which is why many classicists describe the original object as a jar rather than a small household box. The later expression “Pandora’s box” developed through translation history and became much more familiar in European languages.
Other Greek vessel names describe different shapes and uses. An amphora generally has two handles and a narrower body, a krater is associated with mixing wine and water, and a lekythos is a smaller oil container.