In the Pandora myth, Elpis was the last thing left inside the jar.
Elpis is the ancient Greek personification of hope. Hesiod’s Works and Days says that the evils escaped from the vessel, while Elpis remained inside after Pandora replaced the lid. The passage has produced a long-running interpretive question: some readers see hope as a comfort preserved for humanity, while others note that hope is enclosed rather than released.
Elpis is not simply an English word inserted into a modern retelling. She appears as a named concept in Greek mythology and belongs to a broader group of personified forces. Her status in the story is distinctive because she is associated with the jar’s final contents rather than with one of the evils that escaped.
Modern summaries often say “hope was left behind,” but translations differ in wording and in how they explain the jar’s purpose. The secure textual point is that Elpis remained within it.