Hesiod’s original Pandora story features a jar, not a box. In Works and Days, Pandora opens a large storage vessel, commonly identified from the Greek word pithos, and troubles escape into the world.
A pithos was a large ceramic container used in ancient Greece for storing commodities such as grain, wine, or oil. Translating the vessel as a “box” changed the imagery in later European retellings. The phrase “Pandora’s box” became standard in many languages even though the earliest surviving Greek text does not describe a small box.
The distinction matters because the jar reflects ordinary domestic storage rather than a modern hinged container. Artistic depictions often follow the later box tradition, so readers may encounter both forms. The myth’s central action remains the same: Pandora opens a sealed vessel, and humanity can no longer keep its contents contained.