In Hesiod’s Works and Days, Pandora releases evils when she opens the container. The poem describes the jar as holding destructive troubles that had previously been kept away from human beings. After Pandora opens it, the evils spread among humanity, while hope remains inside.
This is the earliest surviving literary version of the episode commonly called Pandora’s box. Hesiod actually uses the Greek word pithos, meaning a large storage jar, rather than a small box. The familiar English expression developed later through Renaissance translation and artistic tradition.
The story is part of Hesiod’s explanation for why human life contains suffering and toil. Pandora’s creation and the opening of the jar are connected to Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus stole fire and gave it to mortals.
The exact status of hope is debated by readers because the poem says it remains inside the jar. The passage does not provide a simple universal explanation of whether hope is a comfort or another enclosed condition.