In Greek mythology, hope was left inside Pandora’s jar after she closed it.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says that Pandora opened the vessel and that its contents escaped, but hope remained within because Pandora shut the lid. This detail explains the familiar expression “Pandora’s box”: even after widespread troubles enter the world, some possibility of endurance or relief remains.
The Greek word used in the passage is elpis, commonly translated as “hope.” Scholars and translators have debated the exact meaning because elpis can refer more broadly to expectation, including expectation of future events. The myth does not settle whether hope was kept inside as a gift to humanity or withheld from humanity.
Later popular retellings usually present hope as the positive remainder among the evils. That interpretation is widespread, but the ambiguity of the original wording is an important reason classical commentators continue to discuss the ending.