In Greek mythology, hope stayed inside Pandora’s container after the other troubles escaped. Hesiod’s Works and Days says that Pandora closed the lid before Hope could leave, although the precise meaning of that detail has been debated since antiquity.
The Greek word in the passage is elpis, commonly translated as “hope.” The myth describes the jar as containing destructive forces or misfortunes that spread among human beings once its lid was opened. Hope is the one named presence that remains within the vessel.
Readers sometimes assume that hope escaped last and therefore survived in the world. That is not what Hesiod’s wording straightforwardly says: Hope is described as remaining inside. Later retellings often turn the ending into a more optimistic image, with hope becoming humanity’s consolation amid suffering.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” is itself a later wording. Hesiod used pithos, a large storage jar, not the small box familiar in modern illustrations. The contrast between released evils and retained hope made this ending one of the myth’s most enduring features.