The Latin name used for Pandora’s jar in some classical and later retellings is pyxis.
Pyxis is a Latin term for a small box or container, and its association with Pandora helped shape the familiar English expression “Pandora’s box.” Hesiod’s Greek text uses pithos, a large storage jar, so pyxis represents a later change in the object’s description rather than the original Greek wording.
The change illustrates how translation can redirect a myth’s imagery. A large agricultural storage vessel became a compact box that could be carried and opened by one person. Later European art and literature reinforced the box image, making it more recognizable than the ancient jar. The distinction is useful when comparing Greek sources with Latin and modern retellings: pithos belongs to the earliest surviving Greek narrative, while pyxis helps explain the later container tradition and the English idiom.