The original container in Hesiod’s Pandora story was a jar. In Works and Days, Hesiod describes a large storage vessel, traditionally identified through the Greek word pithos, rather than a small box.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” developed later through a translation history. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus rendered the Greek vessel as a Latin pyxis, a word associated with a box or small container, in a 1508 version of the myth. That influential choice helped establish the wording used in English and many other languages.
The distinction matters because the jar is part of the ancient imagery. A pithos could be a substantial earthenware storage container used for commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Artists and popular retellings later made the object look like a compact decorated box. The myth’s central action remains the same: opening the container releases evils, while hope remains inside or is handled separately depending on the interpretation.