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 to this, Pandora opened a jar ("pithos"), in modern accounts sometimes mistranslated as "Pandora's box", releasing all the evils of humanity. Hesiod's interpretation of Pandora's story, which is widely considered as misogynous, went on to influence both Jewish and Christian theology and so perpetuated her bad reputation into the Renaissance. Later poets, dramatists, painters and sculptors made her their subject and over the course of five centuries contributed new insights into her motives and significance. Hesiod, both in his "Theogony" (briefly, without naming Pandora outright, line 570) and in "Works and Days", gives the earliest version of the Pandora story.