According to Hesiod’s account, hope remained in Pandora’s jar after the troubles escaped.
In Works and Days, Pandora opens a storage vessel and releases the evils that had been hidden inside. Hope remains within the vessel when Pandora closes it. The Greek word is elpis, commonly translated as “hope,” although its precise meaning has been discussed by classical scholars.
The familiar English expression “Pandora’s box” is already a transformation of the ancient story. Hesiod describes a pithos, a large storage jar, not a small box. Later retellings changed the container and often emphasize hope as humanity’s consolation after suffering entered the world.
The text does not simply state that hope is always beneficial in the modern inspirational sense. Interpreters have debated whether hope is a withheld benefit, a remaining resource, or another ambiguous condition of human life. The stable point in the story is that elpis is left inside when the other troubles escape.