In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, hope was the last thing left inside the opened vessel.
When Pandora opens the container, evils and diseases escape into the world. Hope remains inside after she closes it, according to the usual reading of Hesiod’s Works and Days. The Greek name associated with hope is Elpis, a personified force in ancient thought.
The detail has generated long-standing interpretation. Some readers view hope as a blessing preserved for humanity, while others note that Hesiod’s wording can make its position ambiguous: hope may be retained in the vessel, or it may be withheld from humans. Modern retellings usually present it as the comforting thing that remains.
This is also why “hope” is the standard answer even though later versions may alter the ending. The myth’s original wording is shorter and more enigmatic than the popular moral that suffering exists but hope survives.