No god gave Pandora an instruction to name her jar “hope”; that detail does not appear in Hesiod’s original account.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says that Pandora opened a large storage container, releasing evils into the world, while only elpis remained inside. Elpis is commonly translated as “hope,” but Hesiod does not describe a god telling Pandora to call the container or its contents by that name.
The story is often simplified in modern retellings. Illustrations and later adaptations commonly show a small box, and popular summaries may add motives, speeches, or instructions absent from the ancient poem. The Greek word pithos refers more specifically to a large storage jar, not a hinged box.
The identity and meaning of elpis have also prompted scholarly debate. It may mean hope in the familiar positive sense, but the poem’s wording leaves room for interpretation about whether it is a benefit preserved for humanity or another ambiguous element of Zeus’s plan.