The_Goddess_of_Hope_-_Thorvaldsens_Museum_-_DSC08694

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Elpis () is the minor goddess (

daimon The daimon (), also spelled daemon (meaning "god", "godlike", "power", "fate"), denotes an "unknown superfactor", which can be either good or hostile. In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology a daimon was imagined to be a lesser ...

) of hope, about which the Greeks had ambivalent feelings. She was never the centre of a cult, as was Spes, her Roman equivalent, and was chiefly the subject of ambiguous Greek aetiological myths.

Hesiod's ''Works and Days''

Elpis was the remaining item enclosed in Pandora's box (or jar), the best known form of the myth found in

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

’s ''

Works and Days ''Works and Days'' ()The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op'' for ''Opera''. is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around ...

''. There Hesiod expands upon the misery inflicted on mankind through the curiosity of Pandora. She had brought with her as a wedding gift from heaven a storage jar but when this was opened it released a host of human ills before the lid could be secured again.

Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house, she remained under the lip of the jar and did not fly away. Before he could Pandora replaced the lid of the jar. This was the will of aegis-bearing Zeus the Cloudgatherer.

Based on Hesiod's description, there has been debate whether Elpis was only a delusive belief in good things to follow, or more generally ''expectation''. According to the Classical commentator Willem Jacob Verdenius, the question hinges on whether the jar served to preserve ''elpis'' for man as a blessing, or was intended to keep men free of the curse of ''elpis''. Was hope left to comfort man in his misery or was it the idle hope in which the lazy indulge when they should be working honestly for a living? In either case, "it is not possible to escape the mind of Zeus". Where Hesiod's container was a prison of curses subsequently released on mankind, the poet

Babrius Babrius (, ''Bábrios''; ), "Babrius" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 21. also known as Babrias () or Gabrias (), was the author of a collection of Greek fables, many of which are known today as Aesop's F ...

preserved a later alternative Aesopic aetiology in which the jar contained blessings meant for mankind which then fled back to the heavenly realm. In this case Elpis is plainly seen as a divine gift now kept earth-bound. As a consequence of this ambiguity, Greeks had ambivalent or even negative feelings about "hope". In his play ''The Suppliants'',

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

has a herald describe Elpis as "man's curse; many a state hath it involved in strife". In addition, the concept was unimportant in the philosophical systems of the

Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient ...

and

Epicureans Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious s ...

. On the positive side,

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

bestows on Elpis the adjective "sweet" (fragment 214) and

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

has a character in

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...

refer to "immortal Pheme (Report), child of golden Elpis".

Spes

The Roman cult figure of Spes (Hope) - "good hope" as she was often addressed - is very different. On coinage and in statues, she is depicted as a young maiden in archaic dress with a flower offered in her right hand and holding up the hem of her skirt in the left.Statuette of Spes
Liverpool Museums

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * *

Hesiod's ''Works and Days''

Spes

References

Further reading