In Hesiod’s Pandora myth, the hope associated with her container is called Elpis. In the Greek text, Elpis is the personification or concept of hope, and it is the final item connected with the container after the other troubles have escaped.
The exact interpretation of this episode is debated. Hesiod says that the container’s lid was closed before Elpis escaped, but scholars disagree about whether hope was left inside as a comfort for humanity or withheld from humans. The familiar modern version usually says that hope remained within the container.
Elpis is not another goddess who gives Pandora a personal trait. She is a Greek personification, comparable in concept to other abstract figures such as Nike or Nemesis. The later expression “Pandora’s box” also encourages simplified retellings, while the earliest surviving account refers to a storage vessel and gives a more ambiguous ending.