Cestus


A cestus or caestus is an ancient battle glove, sometimes used in pankration. They were worn like today's boxing gloves, but were made with leather strips and sometimes filled with iron plates or fitted with blades or spikes, and used as weapons.

Terminology

The word caestus is Latin, a deverbal noun derived from the verb caedere, meaning "to strike", and can be reasonably translated as "striker". The Latin plural is caestūs, since this is a fourth declension noun; whereas cestus in the second declension means a girdle or belt. Nevertheless, cesti has sometimes been used. In English, "cestuses" can be used.

Early Greek cestuses

The first cestuses in Ancient Greece were used in boxing-like competitions. Called meilichae, these gloves consisted of strips of raw hide tied under the palm, leaving the fingers bare.
The Greeks also invented a variation called the sphere, which were sewn with small metal balls covered with leather.

Roman cestuses

The Roman variant included straps of different lengths, many reaching to the elbow, in order to protect the forearm when guarding heavy blows. Caestūs were frequently used in Roman gladiatorial bouts, both against each other and against other weapon-wielding gladiators. Despite being seemingly outmatched by other types of gladiators, a single hit from a cestus would have incapacitated most fighters. The cestus-fighter would have otherwise had no body armour.
Cestus-fighters were mostly slaves, who fought to the death. Caestūs boxing was eventually abolished in 393 AD due to excessive brutality.

''Boxer of the Quirinal''

The most famous depiction of cestuses is the Hellenistic sculpture the Boxer of the Quirinal. The sitting figure is wearing cestuses on his hands. It is part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of Rome.