Pandora's Box or Jar?

When you here about Pandora what do you automatically think of? Her box right? Pandora is a Greek mythology story where a god fashioned the first mortal woman out of clay. She had something and that something was said to have contained evil spirits and misery. That something was a jar. Not a box. 

You are probably wondering, how did it change from a jar to a box? Well, in the 16th century there was a man named Desiderius Erasmus, who painted an interpretation of Pandora with a box instead of a jar. People aren't sure whether he misinterpreted the Greek or confused it with the box in the story of Cupid and Psyche. 

Think of this jar-box transition as a long game of telephone. I don't know about you but with my OCD like tendencies, I tend to get annoyed when people say box instead of a jar. I hate to say it but, Pandora's box does have a better ring to it.






Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Pandora | Greek mythology. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pandora-Greek-mythology [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].