Professor Maggie Popkin Published in The Art Bulletin

Maggie Popkin, the Robson Junior Professor and associate professor of art history, has 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 pocketknives in the shape of gladiators commodified gladiators as mascots: utile bodies rather than autonomous individuals. In Professor Popkin’s hands, gladiator knives suggest how art historical analysis can illuminate the role of sports merchandise as an everyday mechanism of power outside institutionalized sporting practices.