Spes
the personification of hope, was worshipped at Rome, where she had several temples, the most ancient of which had been built in B. C. 354, by the consul Atilius Calatinus, near the Porta Carmentalis (Liv. 2.51, 21.62, 24.47, 25.7, 40.51; Tac. Ann. 2.49). The Greeks also worshipped the personification of hope, Elpis, and they relate the beautiful allegory, that when Epimetheus opened the vessel brought to him by Pandora, from which all manner of evils were scattered over the earth, Hope (Elpis) alone remained behind (Hes. Op. et D. 96; Theognis, 1135). Hope was represented presented in works of art as a youthful figure, lightly walking in full attire, holding in her right hand a flower, and with the left lifting up her garment. (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb. p. 100; Müller, Anc. Art and its Rem. § 406.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.