Pandora’s “box” is a pithos, a large ancient Greek storage jar, in the original myth.
Hesiod’s Greek word is pithos, a container commonly used for storing agricultural goods such as grain, wine, or oil. Large pithoi could be taller than a person and were often made from thick ceramic. The object in the myth is therefore much closer to a storage jar than to a small hinged box.
The “box” wording became standard through translation history, especially through the Latin phrase pyxis, which can mean a box or small container. Over time, European retellings and artworks reinforced the compact box image familiar today.
This distinction matters because the container’s scale changes how the scene is imagined. A person opening a large storage jar is quite different from opening a portable jewelry box. Both versions belong to the cultural history of the story, but pithos is the specific term associated with Hesiod’s original account.