In Greek mythology, hope remained inside Pandora’s container after the other contents escaped. The Greek name for this personified hope is Elpis.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says that destructive troubles spread among humanity when Pandora opened the container, while Elpis remained inside. The passage has inspired centuries of debate because it does not clearly state whether hope was deliberately preserved as comfort or kept back as one more burden.
The common modern interpretation treats hope as a blessing left to humanity. However, the ancient text is more ambiguous than many retellings suggest, and scholars have offered different readings of Elpis’s role.
The story is also commonly told as “Pandora’s box,” although Hesiod described a pithos, or large jar. Hope is the standard English answer in both classical summaries and modern adaptations.