Trivia – Pandoras ‘box’ was a mistranslation.

Trivia – Pandoras ‘box’ was a mistranslation.

Pandora – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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. Hesiod uses the word “pithos” which refers to a jar used to store grain. It is possible that Erasmus confused “pithos” with “pyxis” which means box. The scholar M.L. West has written that Erasmus may have mixed up the story of Pandora with the story found elsewhere of a box which was opened by Psyche