A new Rome show on Roman emperor Trajan aims to show his 'pop' side, spanning the senses of being hugely popular with the Roman people and Senate and the original vision of a ruler who left the capital monuments admired through the Renaissance like his famed column and markets, curators said Tuesday.

The show, Trajan, Building an Empire, Creating Europe, runs from Wednesday until September 16 2018 in the run-up to the 1900th anniversary of the death of Rome's first non-Italian ruler, a Spaniard Pliny the Younger called the "best of emperors".