The Colosseum is hosting the most important exhibition on Troy ever held, organisers said Friday saying the event will trace the voyage of Trojan hero Aeneas from the ruins of the Greek-torched ancient city in Asia Minor to Italy where he laid the groundwork for the foundation of the Eternal City.
    The show opening Friday and running till October 18 will include 300 ancient artifacts telling the story of Aeneas's legendary journey, and much more.
    "Troy and Rome.

Myths, Legends, Stories of the Ancient Mediterranean" is part of a bilateral agreement signed between the Italian Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, and his Turkish counterpart, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.
    It is "one of the most important and largest exhibitions on Troy ever held," as Rüstem Aslan, director of the Ancient Troy archaeological site, explained during the presentation.
    "Holding another of this magnitude outside Turkey would be difficult." Aslan didn't rule out the possibility of holding a similar exhibition at the ancient Turkish site of Troy on Rome.
    "We discussed it with Alfonsina Russo," he said, referring to the curator of the Colosseum exhibit.
    Russo is curating 'Troy and Rome' along with Roberta Alteri, Alessio De Cristofaro, Bülent Gönültaş, Mehtap Ateş, Deniz Doğu Yöndem, and Aslan himself.
    The artifacts come from some of the major museums in Italy, Turkey, and Troy.
    Nineteen Turkish museums have loaned over 220 works, 50 of which have never been seen before by the Italian public and over twenty of which have never been seen outside of Italy.
    The exhibition begins with a replica of the Trojan Horse and, between fact and fiction, establishes a dialogue between archaeological evidence and materials documenting the spread and reworking of the myth of Aeneas up until the founding of Rome.
    "The Park brings to the world's eyes the narrative of a foundational myth crucial to the history of humanity," said Simone Quilici, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park.
    The show comprises four sections: a reconstruction of the site of Troy, providing a unique overview of the Hittite world and the diverse cultural realities of Anatolia between the third and second millennia BC; the Trojan War, told from the Trojans' perspective, and the beginning of the diaspora, with Aeneas as its protagonist; the hero's journey, informed by literary traditions and archaeological evidence; and the myth of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome.

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