In Hesiod’s myth of Pandora, hope remained inside the jar after it was opened. The Greek name for this figure or concept is Elpis, and it is the final item mentioned in the account.
Hesiod says that the jar contained evils that escaped into the human world. Pandora then replaced the lid before the last occupant could get out. The text does not explain in a simple, universally agreed way whether hope was trapped as a comfort for humans or withheld from them. That ambiguity has encouraged centuries of debate.
Modern retellings often say that Pandora released every evil except hope, presenting hope as humanity’s consolation. This is a familiar interpretation, but the exact moral meaning is more complicated in Hesiod’s poem. The Greek word and the poem’s imagery do not settle every later philosophical question.
The original story also used a jar, not a box. “Pandora’s box” became the standard expression much later through translation and literary tradition, while hope remained the best-known surviving element of the ancient account.