Pandora's box should be the more dreary and depressing." One's interpretation hangs on two related questions: First, how are we to render "elpis", the Greek word usually translated as "hope"? Second, does the jar preserve "Elpis" for men, or keep "Elpis" away from men? The first question might confuse the non-specialist. But as with most ancient Greek words, "elpis" can be translated a number of ways. A number of scholars prefer the neutral translation of "expectation." But expectation of what? Classical authors use the word "elpis" to mean "expectation of bad," as well as "expectation of good." Statistical analysis demonstrates that the
Pandora humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam when he translated Hesiod's tale of Pandora into Latin. Hesiod's "pithos" refers to a large storage jar, often half-buried in the ground, used for wine, oil or grain. It can also refer to a funerary jar. Erasmus, however, translated "pithos" into the Latin word "pyxis", meaning "box". The phrase "Pandora's box" has endured ever since. Historic interpretations of the Pandora figure are rich enough to have offered Dora and Erwin Panofsky scope for monographic treatment. M. L. West writes that the story of Pandora and her jar is from a pre-Hesiodic myth, and that this explains