The article discusses the position of classical antiquity in higher education in Brazil, taking into account post-colonialism in South America and calls for 'decolonisation' in the field of classical archaeology globally. It is concerned with how the subject of classical antiquity in Brazil intersects with ideals of classical antiquity as European heritage developed during the colonial period, and its perceived embodiment of colonial, eurocentric ideals. This particular inflection in the study of classical antiquity is here referred to as tropicalismo. Situating the discussion within the philosophy of historiography, intellectual and cultural history, it combines empirical ethnography, theory in archaeology and classical reception studies, touching on themes stretching from colonial-era policies to modern-day Amazonian anthropology. The study shows that the emergence of classical archaeology in Brazilian university education, rather than propping up a colonial elitist perspective, helped the foundation of indigenous archaeology at the time of the last dictatorship, thus aligning with progressive social movements. It also documents how the perspective of classical archaeology in Brazil differs from dominant euro-centric models, therefore offering an intrinsic, if not explicit, form of decolonised classical archaeology at a time that the 'decolonisation' of archaeology as a discipline remains a hotly debated topic -- and largely a desideratum -- in European and north American theoretical movements.