Cestus (boxing)

A cestus or caestus (Classical Latin: [ˈkae̯stʊs], Ancient Greek: Kεστός) is a battle glove that was sometimes used in Roman gladiatorial events. It was based on a Greek original, which employed straps called himantes and sphirae, hard leather strips that enclosed and protected the fist and lower arm. Some cestuses were fitted with studs or spikes to inflict potentially lethal injuries. Cestus fighters seem to have had no form of body armour, apart from the cestus itself. Contemporary depictions show the cestus worn in pairs.

Terminology

Latin Caestus or cestus translates as "striker". Its plural is caestus. More rarely, plural cesti is used; this translates as "thongs". English language plural "cestuses" is also used.

Greece and Rome

In Greece, cestus-fights were featured in the Olympic games. Theagenes of Thasos, cestus champion in the Olympics of 480 BC, is said to have killed "most of his opponents"; he was also victor of the Olympic pankration and many other athletic events, and was given hero cult after his death. At some time in the development of Rome's gladiator games, cestus fighting was introduced as an arena spectacle.

The basic Roman cestus was made of hard leather straps, which enclosed and protected the fighter's lower arm and fist. The straps could be studded, or more extremely, spiked. Caestūs were usually worn in pairs. In Roman gladiator contests, cestus-fighters were probably matched against others of their kind; the cestus was effective protection and weaponry against other cestus fighters, and possibly against armoured gladiators equipped with other weapons. Apart from the cestus itself, the cestus-fighter would probably have had no body armour.

Like all arena personnel (arenarii), cestus fighters were either slaves or infames, "infamous ones" who held a very low level of citizenship, their status and privileges severely restricted because of their professional association with blood-pollution and death. Most would have had a very limited life-expectancy. As a potentially lethal, pagan blood sport, Cestus boxing is usually assumed to have been included in the banning of punitive gladiator contests under legislation of the emperor Constantine I, in 325. The reasons for these bans are disputed. Their effectiveness is questionable, as similar legislation was enacted by later Roman emperors.

See also

• Boxer at Rest (Hellenistic sculpture)
• Brass knuckles
• Tekko
• Weighted-knuckle glove
• Cestvs: The Roman Fighter — a manga series about Roman fighters, titled after the cestus

References