In the Pandora myth, hope was the last thing to remain inside her opened container.
Hesiod’s account in Works and Days says that Pandora lifted the lid of the container and released the troubles that afflict humanity. The text then says that only hope remained inside, held there by Zeus’s will or by the container’s lid being replaced.
The detail has inspired centuries of debate. Some readers interpret hope as a comfort deliberately preserved for humans, while others note that Hesiod’s wording can make hope seem like another affliction kept from escaping. The Greek term is elpis, which can mean expectation as well as hope.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” comes from a later translation tradition. Hesiod described a pithos, or large storage jar, rather than a small box. The surviving-hope detail belongs to the ancient literary story, not to a separate later invention.