Editing Elpis (mythology)

{{Short description|Greek mythological  personification and spirit of hope}}
[[File:The_Goddess_of_Hope_-_Thorvaldsens_Museum_-_DSC08694.JPG|thumb|[[Bertel Thorvaldsen]], Statue of Hope (1817), The Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen]] 

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Elpis''' ({{langx|grc|Ἐλπίς|Elpis|hope}}) is the minor goddess ([[daimon]]) 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 [[Etiology|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]]’s ''[[Works and Days]]''.<ref>Hesiod, ''Works and Days'', [https://diotima-doctafemina.org/translations/greek/pandora-hesiod-works-and-days-53-105 lines 53-105]</ref> 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{{efn|A ''[[pithos]]'' is a very large jar, usually made of rough-grained terracotta, used for storage}} but when this was opened it released a host of human ills before the lid could be secured again. 
<blockquote><poem>
Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house,
she remained under the lip of the jar and did not
fly away. Before [she could], Pandora replaced the
lid of the jar. This was the will of [[aegis]]-bearing
Zeus the Cloudgatherer.</poem></blockquote>

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?{{sfn|Verdenius|1985|p=66|ps=}} 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]] preserved a later alternative [[Aesop's Fables#Religious themes|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.<ref>John Davies, ''Fables of Babrius'' (1860), [https://elfinspell.com/ClassicalTexts/Babrius/Part1-Fables40-79.html Fable 58]</ref>

As a consequence of this ambiguity, Greeks had ambivalent or even negative feelings about "hope". In his play ''The Suppliants'', [[Euripides]] has a herald describe Elpis as "man's curse; many a state hath it involved in strife".<ref>Euripides, [http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/suppliants.html  ''Suppliants''], l. 479.</ref> In addition, the concept was unimportant in the philosophical systems of the [[Stoicism|Stoics]] and [[Epicureanism|Epicureans]].{{sfnp|Momigliano|1987|p=75}} On the positive side, [[Pindar]] bestows on Elpis the adjective "sweet" (fragment 214) and [[Sophocles]] has a character in [[Oedipus Rex]] refer to "immortal [[Pheme]] (Report), child of golden Elpis".<ref>[https://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Elpis.html "Elpis"] quoted at Theoi.com</ref>

==Spes==
The Roman cult figure of [[Spes]] (Hope) - "good hope" as she was often addressed - is very different.<ref>Mark Edward Clark, "The Evidence for 'Spes' as an Early Imperial Idea", Indiana University thesis, 1981, [https://www.proquest.com/openview/1067ba36f26c099e5c888a03bdf5c9f8/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y p. 9]</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_spes.html?srsltid=AfmBOor55kbkeVMEu2tq_hCY7d8qNsn1lXmY1LAajo-CV4jyUyjVWRTM "Spes, the personification of Hope"], The Sign Language of Roman Coins</ref><ref>[https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/statuette-of-spes Statuette of Spes], Liverpool Museums</ref>

==References==
'''Notes'''
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'''Citations'''
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'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation |author-link=Arnaldo Momigliano |first=Arnaldo |last=Momigliano |contribution=Religion in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem in the First Century B.C. |title=On Pagans, Jews, and Christians |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |date=1987}}
*{{citation |last=Verdenius |first=Willem Jacob |author-link=Willem Jacob Verdenius |title=A Commentary on Hesiod ''Works and Days vv 1–382 |year=1985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Kk3AAAAIAAJ |publisher=E. J. Brill |isbn=90-04-07465-1}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*[[Martin Litchfield West|West, M. L.]] ''Hesiod, Theogony'', ed. with prolegomena and commentary (Oxford 1966).
*West, M. L. ''Hesiod, Works and Days'', ed. with prolegomena and commentary (Oxford 1978).


{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Pandora]]
[[Category:Hope]]