Pandora's box – a blessing – doing among them? This objection leads some to render "elpis" as the expectation of evil, which would make the myth's tone somewhat optimistic: although mankind is troubled by all the evils in the world, at least we are spared the continual expectation of evil, which would make life unbearable. The optimistic reading of the myth is expressed by M. L. West. "Elpis" takes the more common meaning of expectant hope. And while the jar served as a prison for the evils that escaped, it thereafter serves as a residence for Hope. West explains, "It would be
Greek mythology in popular culture a part in the "slow erosion of historical sense." The 1996 video game "Wrath of the Gods" was an adventure game set in mythical Greece, and had an educational component where players could learn about Greek myths and history and see images of Greek art in cut-a-ways. In 2003, GameSpy remarked that the 1986 video game "Kid Icarus", which had become very popular and then faded to relative obscurity, had followed a trajectory similar to its namesake from Greek mythology, Icarus, who had escaped imprisonment when his father created wings from feathers and wax, but ignoring his father's advice, Icarus