Maggie Popkin, the Robson Junior Professor and associate professor of art history, published her ongoing research into the material and visual culture of ancient Roman sport in The Art Bulletin, the flagship journal of the College Art Association.
Her article, “Roman Gladiator Knives: Objectification, Mascotting, and the Material Culture of Sport in Ancient Rome,” shows how pocket knives in the shape of gladiators commodified gladiators as mascots—utile bodies rather than autonomous individuals.
In the article, Popkin explains that gladiator knives suggest how art historical analysis can illuminate the role of sports merchandise as an everyday mechanism of power outside institutionalized sporting practices.