Erasmus helped coin the familiar “Pandora’s box” wording by translating the myth’s jar as a box. In the original Greek account by Hesiod, the container is a pithos, a large storage jar.
The Latin phrase was popularized through Erasmus’s writings, especially his Adagia, a collection of classical proverbs and allusions first published in 1500 and expanded in later editions. The wording reflects the Latin term pyxis, meaning box or small container, rather than the larger Greek vessel.
That translation shaped the expression used in many modern languages. “Opening Pandora’s box” now means starting a process that releases many unforeseen problems, even when the original myth is not being discussed.
The phrase is therefore a translation history as well as a mythology fact. The jar-versus-box distinction matters: Hesiod’s pithos was a substantial storage vessel, not a small hinged box like the image common in modern illustrations.