Introduction

For some, luxury is a condition of over-rich places. By slinking down into plush furnishings, rising up into large spaces or dining in sumptuous surrounds it makes them feel at ease. For others it is living in tall skyscrapers in silence away from the grime and street noises. What more is there to say about luxury? Interestingly, luxury is thought to have originated in one ancient Greek colonial city, Sybaris, now itself a mosaic of largely unexcavated ruins in Calabria, southern Italy. Sybaris’ opulent metropolis and its curious innovations inform the history and theory of modern architecture. The citizens of Sybaris were famously, though not entirely or accurately, believed to live luxuriously in sumptuous buildings and surrounds. Today the place is entrenched in myth.