In Greek mythology, hope was the last thing remaining in Pandora’s vessel after it was opened.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says that destructive troubles escaped when Pandora lifted the lid, while hope remained within the container. The Greek term is often given as elpis. Translators and interpreters have debated whether elpis means optimistic hope specifically or expectation more generally, but “hope” is the standard English answer.
The myth’s ending has generated two major readings. One sees hope as a final comfort left to humanity amid disease, toil, and other sufferings. Another asks why hope would be stored in the jar with evils if it was meant to help people. Ancient commentators and modern scholars have not reached one universally accepted interpretation.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” therefore does not simply mean that every bad thing escaped. In the traditional story, one significant element stays behind. That detail explains why the myth can be read both as a story of catastrophe and as one containing a possible consolation.