In Greek mythology, hope was left inside Pandora’s jar after all other troubles escaped.
Hesiod’s account says the jar contained destructive forces that spread among humanity when Pandora opened it. Hope remained inside when she closed the vessel again, although ancient readers have debated whether this means hope was preserved for humans or withheld from them.
The familiar expression “Pandora’s box” is based on a translation mistake. Hesiod used the Greek word pithos, meaning a large storage jar, not a small box. The “box” wording became standard through later translations and retellings.
The myth appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days, composed in archaic Greece. Pandora is presented as the first woman in the story, created by the gods as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft of fire. The tale explains why suffering exists while also leaving hope as a central interpretive question.