A pithos is the ancient Greek vessel often mistranslated as Pandora’s “box” in Hesiod’s story.
A pithos was a large storage jar, commonly used for commodities such as grain, oil, or wine. Hesiod’s Works and Days uses the Greek word pithos when describing the container associated with Pandora. It was not a small wooden box like the object shown in many modern illustrations.
The box image developed through later translation history. Renaissance humanist Erasmus used the Latin expression pyxis Pandora, replacing the large jar with a box-like container. That wording spread into European languages and helped establish the familiar phrase “Pandora’s box.”
This translation difference matters because the vessel changes how the scene is imagined. A large storage jar fits ancient Mediterranean household and agricultural life, while a hinged box belongs more naturally to later European visual culture. The myth’s plot remains recognizable, but the object itself reflects centuries of adaptation.