ancient Greece, boxing was a popular competitive sport and was
included in the first Olympic Games. In Greek mythology, the Cestus
was the first leather boxing glove
that had spikes and razor
edges on the back and across the knuckles.
the origins of boxing are unknown, there have been recent discoveries on
that date back the history of boxing to 1500 BC. Homer, the Greek poet
describes a two-person fight in the Iliad, as early as the epic poem's
setting around 1800 BC. Records indicate the sport was part of the ancient
Olympic Games of 688 BC. Plato mentions boxing in both The Republic and
the dialogue Gorgias, and the poet Pindar elegized the Olympic boxing
champion of 474 BC.
with running, wrestling, and the use of weapons, boxing was part of a
young man's education in ancient
.The Romans also embraced boxing, turning the sport into a brutal
gladiatorial spectacle. Boxers of this time covered their hands and arms
with a leather thong called a CESTUS,
sometimes studding it with metal spikes. The combatants often fought until
one was fatally injured.
were usually used in gladiator bouts where
otherwise unarmed combatants - usually slaves - fought to the death. This
form of boxing became increasingly bloody until the CESTUS
was officially banned in the 1st century BC. Hand-to-hand fighting was
banned 393 AD.
(from Lat. caedo, strike), a gauntlet or boxing-glove
used by the ancient pugilists. Of this there were several varieties, the
simplest and least dangerous being the meilichae, which consisted of strips of
raw hide tied under the palm, leaving the fingers bare.
these the athletes in the palaestrae wore them to practice, reserving for
serious contests the more formidable kinds, such as the sphaerae, which were
sewn with small metal balls covered with leather, and the terrible myrmex,
sometimes called limb-breakers, which were studded with heavy nails. The straps
were of different lengths, many reaching to the elbow, in order to protect the
forearm when guarding heavy blows.
J. H. Krause, Gymnastik und Agonislik der Hellenen, 1841)