Erasmus popularized the phrase “Pandora’s box” through a Latin translation of the myth.
The original Greek story described a pithos, or large storage jar. In the sixteenth century, the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus translated the relevant passage into Latin and used pyxis, a word associated with a box or small container. His wording helped establish the form that became familiar in European culture.
Erasmus was one of the leading Renaissance scholars of classical texts. His editions and translations circulated widely among educated readers, allowing his version of the container to influence later retellings, artwork, and idiomatic English.
The phrase is therefore partly a translation history rather than a direct description of Hesiod’s Greek wording. Cicero and Virgil were major Roman writers, but neither is credited with creating the modern “Pandora’s box” expression.