Which English phrase comes from the later retelling of Pandora’s jar as a box?

The English phrase “Pandora’s box” comes from later retellings that transformed Pandora’s ancient jar into a box. It now describes an action or situation that creates many unexpected problems once opened or started.

Hesiod’s original Greek container was a pithos, a large storage jar. The box image became influential through translation and classical reception, especially after the Renaissance. Erasmus used the Latin expression pyxis Pandorae, helping establish the version that shaped later European languages.

The modern idiom does not usually refer to a literal container. It is used figuratively in journalism, politics, technology, and everyday speech. The phrase preserves the myth’s central idea: releasing trouble is easy, but reversing the consequences is difficult.