A leather strap or belt worn by Roman gladiators and boxers, often studded with metal for protection or as a weapon.
From Latin caestus (a boxer's glove or girdle). The word appears in classical Latin texts describing Roman fighting equipment and athletic gear used in combat sports.
Roman boxers wearing caestus would literally punch each other with metal-studded leather—it was less like modern boxing and more like MMA with weapons, which explains why Roman boxing left much higher injury rates than Greek boxing.
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