An Attic pyxis, 440-430 BC. British Museum.

Pandora was the first mortal woman in classical mythology. Each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts. Pandora had been given a jar and instructed by Zeus to keep it closed, but she had also been given the gift of curiousity, and ultimately opened it. When she did, all of the evils of mankind escaped from the jar(we call it Pandora’s box), although Pandora was quick enough to close it again and keep one value inside, and that was Hope.

The mistranslation of pithos as “box” is usually attributed to the sixteenth century humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam when he translated Hesiod’s tale of Pandora into Latin. Hesiod’s pithos refers to a storage jar for oil or grain. Erasmus, however, translated pithos into the Latin word pyxis, meaning “box”. The phrase “Pandora’s box” has endured ever since.

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