Elpis in antiquity. Hesiod closes with this moral (105): "Thus it is not possible to escape the mind of Zeus." The asteroid 59 Elpis is named after her. Notes Citations Bibliography Elpis In Greek mythology, Elpis () is the personification and spirit of hope (usually seen as an extension to suffering by the Greeks, not as a god), perhaps a child of Nyx and mother of Pheme, the goddess of fame, renown and rumor. She was depicted as a young woman, usually carrying flowers or a cornucopia in her hands. In Hesiod's "Works and Days", Elpis was the last item in
Pandora's box story has grown the idiom "to open (a) Pandora's box", meaning to do or start something that will cause many unforeseen problems. Its modern, more colloquial equivalent is "to open a can of worms". The word translated as "box" was actually a large jar (πίθος "pithos") in Greek. It was used for storage of wine, oil, grain or other provisions, or, ritually, as a container for a human body for burying, from which it was believed souls escaped and necessarily returned. Many scholars see a close analogy between Pandora herself, who was made from clay, and the clay jar which