The mistranslation of "pithos" as "box" is usually attributed to the 16th century humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. Erasums is thought to have made the error 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. This error was further backed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting "Pandora".