Original, profound reflections on a matter that has been the subject of a longstanding and controversial historiographic tradition. An impressive series of contributions, entrusted to specialists in the field, investigates - partly through rich, thoroughly researched iconographic material - the various nuclei of content that correspond to the various sections of the exhibition but which, at the same time, can be consulted separately in the course of time.
Multiple Earth, infinite Earth. It is from the Earth that every form of life springs. The Earth is the artifice of everything, just as it marks the end of everything. For this reason, in ancient mythology, the Earth is given a role that no other primeval force possesses. Origin of the Cosmos and of the gods, the Earth Mother generates all goodness and wealth but, at the same time, the Earth is a hellish, dark place in which the lowly occupy the place of the high-born, Darkness occupies the place of Light, and Death replaces Life. Exploring the Earth of Antiquity means moving from the enigmatic figurines of prehistory to contemplate the figures that illustrate the genealogy of the gods of Ancient Greece; following the wanderings of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, searching for Persephone who has been kidnapped by the god of the Underworld; and, guided by gold tablets, following the mysterious journeying in the Underworld undertaken by the tormented soul of Orpheus. And, finally, climbing up again towards the Light and, following the furrow of the plough drawn by the City’s founder, to discover that in Rome, it is the people of the City itself who have created it, stone by stone. It will be furnished with the segni monuments that make it into a cultural and political center, leaving the destruction of the enemy or an irksome rival to its evil power – always alive in the popular imagination.