Erasmus helped popularize the phrase “Pandora’s box” in European literary tradition.
The ancient Greek account describes a jar or storage vessel, not a box. In his 1508 Latin adaptation of the story, the Dutch humanist Erasmus used the expression pyxis Pandorae, meaning “Pandora’s box.” That wording helped establish the box image that later became much more familiar than the original jar.
The shift was partly connected with translation and vocabulary. Greek pithos can refer to a large storage jar, while the Latin word pyxis means a small box or container. Once the Latin version circulated, the box became the dominant image in many later retellings and languages.
The modern idiom means a source of unexpected troubles released by an action. It is therefore a cultural descendant of Hesiod’s story, but its most recognizable container differs from the vessel in the earliest surviving account.