Erasmus helped popularize the phrase “Pandora’s box” through his Latin translation of Hesiod. In translating the ancient account, he rendered the Greek pithos as pyxis, a word associated with a box or casket.
Hesiod’s original container was a pithos, a large storage jar. The later Latin wording influenced European retellings and eventually produced the standard English expression “Pandora’s box.” The phrase now describes an action that creates many unexpected problems.
Erasmus of Rotterdam was a major Renaissance humanist, scholar, and writer who worked extensively with classical texts. The change is often described as a translation error, although historical translation choices can reflect broader linguistic and cultural context rather than a simple mistake. In any case, the box image became much more familiar than the ancient jar.