In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, hope remains inside the jar after its other contents escape.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says that Pandora lifts the lid of a large storage jar, releasing evils that then afflict humanity. The text adds that only elpis, commonly translated as “hope,” remains inside because Pandora replaces the lid before it can leave.
The role of hope has been debated for centuries. Some readers see it as a comfort preserved for humans, while others note that Hesiod’s wording and the jar’s function make its exact status ambiguous. The myth does not explicitly explain whether hope is a blessing, a withheld resource, or something more complicated.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” is also a later development. Hesiod describes a pithos, a large earthenware jar. Renaissance writers helped popularize the box version, but the surviving Greek account uses a jar.