46: Between the Jar and the Temple: Elpis, Spes, and the Sacred Tension of Hope

The Goddess Divine Podcast

This week is all about Hope or thr Roman Goddess, Spes. Spes is the ancient Roman goddess of Hope, revered not as a passive wish, but as an active spiritual and civic force. Her name literally means “hope” in Latin, and she was considered one of the Virtutes, divine personifications of core Roman values, alongside goddesses such as Fides (Faith), Salus (Health), and Concordia (Harmony).
In Roman belief, Spes embodied the resilience of the human spirit, the strength to endure through uncertainty, hardship, and transformation. She was invoked in times of illness, political crisis, war, or personal despair, and was prayed to by both the poor and the powerful.
Unlike her Greek counterpart Elpis, who appears in the myth of Pandora and is sometimes seen as ambiguous or even dangerous, Spes was unambiguously divine and virtuous in Roman religion. The Romans believed hope was essential, not a delusion, but a discipline that helped one survive difficulty and imagine a better future.