Who coined the expression “Pandora’s box” by translating Hesiod’s jar into Latin?

Desiderius Erasmus coined the expression “Pandora’s box” by translating Hesiod’s jar into Latin.

Hesiod’s original Greek story describes a pithos, a large storage jar, rather than a small box. In the sixteenth century, the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus translated and adapted the story in Latin, using the word pyxis, meaning box or container. That wording helped establish the expression that later became standard in European languages.

The change was not simply a modern misunderstanding of the myth. Erasmus was working within the traditions of Renaissance classical scholarship, where Greek texts were frequently translated, paraphrased and circulated in Latin. His version had a major influence on how later readers imagined the object.

This is why modern retellings often show Pandora opening a box even though Hesiod’s jar was a much larger vessel. The story’s central theme—unintended consequences released by opening a forbidden container—survived the change in terminology.