Pithos Into "box"
The mistranslation of pithos, a large storage jar, 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 large storage jar, often half-buried in the ground, used for wine, oil or grain. It can also refer to a funerary jar.
Erasmus, however, translated pithos into the Latin word pyxis, meaning "box". The phrase "Pandora's box" has endured ever since.
Read more about this topic: Pandora
Famous quotes containing the word box:
“Angel of hope and calendars, do you know despair?
That hole I crawl into with a box of Kleenex....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)