Erasmus’s sixteenth-century Latin translation helped turn Hesiod’s jar into the familiar phrase “Pandora’s box.”
Hesiod’s Greek text uses pithos, a large storage jar. When the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus translated the passage into Latin, he used pyxis, a term for a box or small container. Later European writers and translators followed the box wording, and it eventually became the standard expression in English and other languages.
The change illustrates how translation can reshape a myth. The narrative remained recognizable, but the physical object changed from a substantial jar to a box. Modern readers therefore encounter a phrase that is deeply established yet does not precisely describe the Greek source.
Erasmus lived from 1466 to 1536 and was one of the most influential Renaissance humanists. His work circulated widely, helping Latin formulations reach educated readers across Europe. The expression “Pandora’s box” became much more common than “Pandora’s jar,” even though the latter is closer to Hesiod’s wording.