Pandora's box

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For other uses, see Pandora's box (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, ''Pandora's box'' is the box carried by Pandora that contained all the evils of mankind—greed, vanity, slander, lying, envy, pining—and hope.

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[edit] Etymology of "box"

The original Greek word used was pithos which is a large jar.

The mistranslation of pithos as "box" is usually attributed to the 16th 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".[1] The phrase "Pandora's box" has endured ever since. This misconception was further backed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting Pandora.[2]

A pithos from Crete, ca. 675 BC. Louvre

An Attic pyxis, 440–430 BC. British Museum

[edit] Opening of the box

After Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create the woman Pandora as part of the punishment for mankind. Pandora was given many seductive gifts from Aphrodite, Hermes, Charites, and Horae (according to Works and Days). For fear of additional reprisals, Prometheus warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus, but Epimetheus did not listen, and married Pandora. Pandora had been given a box and instructed by Zeus to keep it closed, but she had also been given the gift of curiosity, and ultimately opened it. When she opened it, all of the evils of mankind escaped from the box, although Pandora was quick enough to close it again and keep one value inside- Hope.

[edit] Feminist interpretations of Pandora's box

Nicolas Régnier, c. 1626, is aware it should be Pandora's jar, not box
Nicolas Régnier, c. 1626, is aware it should be Pandora's jar, not box

Following Jane Ellen Harrison,[3] in an earlier set of myths, Pandora was a manifestation of the Great Goddess, provider of the gifts that made life and culture possible, and Hesiod's tale can be seen as part of a propaganda campaign to demote her from her previously revered status. The Hesiodic myth's misogyny is apparent in the transformation from a goddess to a man who gives all good things to mankind into a mortal woman created as a punishment who introduces all evils to mankind. Modern feminist literary criticism has also focused on the gendered symbolism inherent in the myth. Pandora's jar, according to this school of thought, represents the female womb. That the jar releases a myriad evils upon the earth suggests the topocentric culture's unease with friendly female sexuality.[4]

[edit] Pandora's box in popular culture

  • In Blood Ties, The TV series Season two episode three 5:55 Vicki dreams over and over of Pandora's box being open and releasing all the evil into the world. It takes her and henry - her vampire partner - to save the world from this event.
  • In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as he is dying, Lieutenant General Robert Brewster says that he has opened Pandora's Box.
  • In Terranigma, a creature called Yomi is released from a box, resulting in the world being filled instantly with evil entities.
  • In House of the Dead 4, the opening of Pandora's Box releases the final bosses of the game.
  • In God of War, the protagonist Kratos is trying to get the box in order to defeat Ares.
  • In the fourth episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, entitled 'Cradle of Hope', Xena and Gabrielle help Pandora get the box back from King Gregor and his evil adviser Nemos.
  • In Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, the antagonist is searching for the box in order to create unstoppable biological weapons. The box is also claimed to be the source of life.
  • In City of Heroes and City of Villains, the opening of Pandora's Box in the early 20th Century is responsible for the proliferation of super-powered beings in the world.
  • In Charmed episode Little Box of Horrors, the box is guarded by women known as Guardians. The box moves on to the new Guardian after the previous one has been killed. The Guardian is the only one who can unleash, and return, all of the world's evil.
  • In Devil May Cry 4, Pandora's box appears as a suitcase with 666 different weapon configurations. The attack "PF666: Omen" opens the suitcase, dealing large amounts of damage to enemies in front of it.
  • In The Librarian (on TNT), someone almost opens the box, releasing evil into the world for 10,000 years.
  • In Mulholland Drive, Diane Selwyn is given a key to her personal Pandora's box.
  • In the video game Pandora's Box, when Pandora opens the box it releases people symbolizing mischief so you must solve puzzles to put them back in the box.
  • In Blood Ties, Vicky Nelson is repeating the same day in order to stop Pandora's Box from being opened. In the end, only Henry, a vampire and therefore not a living person, can resist opening the box.
  • In Panzer Dragoon Orta, Pandora's Box is an option in one of the game menu, and opening Pandora's box will take the player to the features that the player unlocked while playing the game.
  • On Aerosmith's album Get Your Wings", the final track is called "Pandora's Box". Aerosmith also released a compilation entitled Pandora's Box.
  • In Microsoft's PC game Crimson Skies, the name of the zeppelin that is used as your base of operations is "Pandora's Box".
  • In Final Fantasy VI, Banon tells Terra the story of Pandora's Box to convince her to join the Returners.
  • In Final Fantasy VII, there is a unique enemy skill called "Pandora's Box" that the player has only one chance to obtain per new game, due to a bug in the game's scripting. The skill is a powerful non-elemental attack that hits all enemies. The attack ends with a large question mark being shown on the screen that is surrounded by the blackness of space.
  • British pop band OMD had a single called "Pandora's Box" in 1991.
  • In Saint Seiya, Pandora is the one who opens the box and sets the spirit of Hades free.
  • In AdventureQuest, the box that Hope is in is similar to Pandora's Box, both letting out Omega (evil) and Hope out at once.
  • In Violinist of Hameln, the box is opened by a woman named Pandora, and the Demon King as well as hordes of demons escape only to wreak havoc on humanity. Only a person with holy blood can open Pandora's box, since it is a divine item.
  • In "Storm" by Nox Arcana, the band mentions Pandora's Box, when, for the first time on the cd, they sing as a band. They also have a song titled "Pandora's Music Box" on their album Carnival of Lost Souls.
  • In 'The L Word" In one episode Jenny, after being intruded upon by her new housemate putting cameras all over the house, refers to him "opening Pandoras box" by doing so.
  • In Heroes Season 2 Episode 11 - At the end of the final episode of season 2 Angela Petrelli is seen to be on the phone to a unknown person and she refers to pandora's box being opened by this person after the death / shooting of her son Nathan Petrelli.
  • Shades of Simon Grey, the Book References Pandora's Box by naming a cat Pandora
  • In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Pandora appears as a Dora The Explorer-like character with a lunch box that contains evil lunch foods.
  • In the episode "Nob And Nobility" of the British sitcom Blackadder III, Blackadder compares his dogsbody Baldrick's trousers to Pandora's box, imploring him "never to allow curiosity to lead you to open your trousers".
  • Notting Hill. William (Hugh Grant) on kissing film star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts): "I've opened Pandora's box. And there's trouble inside". Spike nods thoughtfully, "I knew a girl called Pandora once. Never got to see her box, though"

[edit] References

  1. ^ In his notes to Hesiod's Works and Days (p.168) M.L. West has surmised that Erasmus may have confused the story of Pandora with the story found elsewhere of a box which was opened by Psyche.
  2. ^ Pandora by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
  3. ^ Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 1922:280-83, "The Making of a Goddess".
  4. ^ See, for example, Reeder 1995, 195-99 and 277-279; Zeitlin 1995 passim, but particularly the chapter on Pandora: "Signifying Difference: The Case of Hesiod's Pandora." For an extensive bibliography on women in ancient Greek myth and society, see the list of references compiled by John Porter: http://homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/Biblios/Womenindrama.html