In the Greek myth of Pandora, Elpis is the spirit associated with hope.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says that Pandora opens a storage jar containing evils, which escape into the world. She closes it before Elpis leaves. The Greek noun elpis can mean expectation or hope, and later readers generally identify it as the beneficial thing retained inside the vessel.
The ending is not completely simple. Hesiod does not explicitly explain whether Elpis is a comfort deliberately preserved for humanity or another force kept from it. That ambiguity has produced centuries of philosophical and literary debate. The familiar summary—“hope remained in the box”—is therefore a later interpretive shorthand.
Elpis was personified in Greek culture and could be represented as a young woman. She should not be confused with a separate Olympian goddess with a major cult comparable to Athena or Aphrodite.