Pandora is the Greek mythological figure who gives rise to the phrase “opening Pandora’s box.”
In the familiar version of the story, Pandora opens the container associated with her and releases harmful forces into the world. The modern idiom describes an action that creates many unexpected problems or reveals consequences that are difficult to control.
The expression is based on a translation tradition rather than Hesiod’s exact wording. Hesiod described a pithos, or large jar, not a box. The phrase became established through later Latin and European retellings, and it is now used far beyond mythology. “Opening Pandora’s box” does not literally refer to a particular historical object; it is a figurative expression derived from the myth.