In Greek mythology, Pandora kept hope inside the famous container after she opened it. Hesiod says that troubles escaped into the world when Pandora opened the vessel, while hope remained within it because the lid was replaced.
The Greek word in Hesiod’s Works and Days is elpis, usually translated as “hope.” Scholars have debated the precise sense of elpis, because the word can refer broadly to expectation rather than only to optimistic hope. The traditional interpretation treats the remaining hope as humanity’s consolation amid suffering.
This detail is often simplified into the phrase “hope was left in the box.” Hesiod’s version does not describe a modern box, however; it uses the word pithos, a large storage jar. The familiar English expression developed much later from translations and retellings.