The ancient Greek vessel Pandora opened in Hesiod’s original story was a pithos.
A pithos was a large storage jar used in the ancient Greek world for commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Its size makes it very different from the small hinged container suggested by the modern expression “Pandora’s box.” Hesiod’s wording places the myth in the world of large household storage vessels.
The change from jar to box is usually associated with later translation and reception. The Renaissance scholar Erasmus used the Latin term pyxis, meaning a box or small container, when translating the Greek story. That choice helped establish the image that became standard in European languages.
The vessel’s identity matters because it changes the visual scale of the myth. A pithos could be a substantial container, often associated with domestic storage. “Pandora’s box” remains the familiar phrase, but “pithos” is the more precise term for the vessel in Hesiod’s account.