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WABUKAN Arsenal · Impact weapons · Europe

Cestus

The fighting glove of ancient boxing: hard leather straps around the fist and forearm, sometimes studded or spiked in Roman arena bouts.

Cestus
Cestus WABUKAN illustration

Also known as

cestus, caestus (Latin, “striker”); himantes (Greek straps)

Origin and history

The Roman cestus was based on a Greek original that used straps called himantes and, later, hard leather strips that enclosed the fist and lower arm. Greek boxers wore these straps over the hands, leaving the fingers free, and boxing entered the Olympic Games in 688 BC. Theagenes of Thasos, boxing champion at the Olympics of 480 BC, is said to have killed most of his opponents. In Rome, cestus fighting became an arena spectacle; fighters wore the gloves in pairs and probably no other armour.

Martial arts that use it

Boxing Pankration

Construction

Straps of hard leather wound round the fist and lower arm, worn in pairs. Roman versions could be studded or even spiked to cause serious injury.

Basic techniques

Training

Impact weapons are learned with grips, stances and basic strikes on a bag or pad, then blocks and paired drills at slow speed. Wooden or padded versions are used for partner work; heavy or metal pieces only for solo forms.

Safety

Wear a helmet and padded gloves for any contact drill, use padded or light wooden versions with a partner and check the weapon for cracks, loose studs or sharp edges before every session.

Legality (general information)

Sticks, staffs and other impact or flexible weapons are ordinary objects in some countries and restricted weapons in others (several European countries, for example, regulate nunchaku, batons or weighted chains). Carrying one in public without a good reason can be an offence even where owning it is legal. Transport it in a bag and use it in the training hall. This is general information, not legal advice: check local law.

Did you know?

In Rome cestus fighters, like all arena performers, were slaves or infames, people of very low legal status.

More weapons

Mace War hammer Morning star Kanabō Gada Tekkō

Sources

Original WABUKAN text, written from these cross-checked sources (facts, not sentences).

  1. Wikipedia — Cestus (boxing)
  2. Wikipedia — Ancient Greek boxing