Roman spectacle;
I am interested in the symbols and rituals of power in the Roman Empire, with particular focus on the deployment of gender and material culture in imperial politics. I am also intrigued by representations of ancient Rome in the modern world, in film, literature and art.

The Roman Games. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing. 2006.
Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. Paperback
edition 2000.
Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1997.
Barbarian Queens: Paradoxes of Gender, Power and Identity. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.
Monograph in progress, under contract.
The Roman Games. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing. Revised second edition in progress.
Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World (with Thomas Scanlon). Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press. Co-edited volume in progress.
“Memories of Storied Heroes,” in STARZ Spartacus: Reimagining an Icon on Screen. A. Augoustakis and
M. Cyrino (eds.), Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016, pp. 7-23.
“Love, Rebellion and Cleavage: Boadicea’s Hammered Breastplate in The Viking Queen,” in Oysters and
Snails: Screening Love and Sex in the Ancient World. M. S. Cyrino (ed.), New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2013, pp. 211-225.
“Arena,” and “Gladiators,” in Blackwell Encyclopedia of Ancient History. R. Bagnall et al. (eds.), Oxford,
England: Blackwell Publishing, 2011.
Review of D. Lowe and K. Shahabudin (eds.), Classics For All: Reworking Antiquity in Mass
Culture (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 2009) for the Journal of Roman Studies 100 (2010): 315.
"Chariot Racing," "Circus," and "Gladiators and Gladiatorial Games," in Oxford Encyclopedia of
Ancient Greece and Rome. E. Fantham (ed.), Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2009.
"’Not Some Cheap Murder’: Caesar’s Assassination, " in Rome: History Makes Television. M. S. Cyrino
(ed.). Oxford, England: Wiley/Blackwell, 2008, pp. 100-116.
"Shadow Government: HBO’s Rome," Amphora (2006): 1-5.
II
"The Baby, the Mother and the Empire: Xena as Ancient Hero," in Athena's Daughters: New
Women Warriors on Television. F. Early and K. Kennedy (eds.), Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press, 2003, pp. 13-26, 137-138.
Review of D. L. Bomgardner, The Story of the Roman Amphitheatre (Routledge: 2000) for the
American Journal of Archaeology 106 (2002): 342-343.
"Seeing Red: Spartacus as Domestic Economist," in Imperial Projections: Ancient Rome in Modern
Popular Culture. M. Malamud, D. McGuire and S. Joshel (eds.), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2001, pp. 77-118.
"Zenobia and the Zenobio: Gender, Identity and the Barbarian Queen." Center 20 (2000): 88-92.
"The Heroön," in Nemea: A Guide to the Site and Museum. S. G. Miller (ed.), Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1990, pp. 104-110.
"Heavy Traffic: Mithras as Commodity," JAGNES 2 (Spring, 1991): 4-13.
“Archaic and Early Republic,” “Mid-Republic Expansion and Spectacle,” and “Gender and
Sexuality,” in Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. A. Futrell and T.
Scanlon (eds.), Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Chapters in progress.
“The Downfall of Hollywood: Cleopatra and Fall of the Roman Empire,” in Companion to Ancient Greece
and Rome on Screen. A. Pomeroy (ed.), Wiley Blackwell. Chapter in progress.