Introduction

The introduction argues that architecture is a valuable but underutilized medium for understanding classical reception. It contextualizes architectural studies in classical reception research and explores why scholars have not fully examined architecture as a lens for reception. It also provides an overview of the current state of the field of classical reception studies and the role of architectural studies within it. The book’s central argument is that ancient architecture at U.S. world’s fair–specifically in Chicago, Nashville, Omaha, St. Louis, and San Francisco–embodied abstract ideas and ambitions, helping each city project itself as a modern, progressive metropolis with a unique local identity, rivaling major global cities like New York, London, and Paris. The introduction outlines theoretical frameworks such as hyperreality, which can be applied to the study of the architecture of world’s fairs. It also introduces the neo-antique, a concept for analyzing the reception of classical (Greco-Roman) and Egyptian architecture together. Additionally, the chapter surveys the historiography of world’s fairs and situates this study within this context, arguing for the importance of architecture as a type of evidence for understanding world’s fairs as a phenomenon. The introduction concludes with a summary of the book’s five chapters.