Weapons & Warriors: The Cestus of the Romans

The Cestus is a deadly hand held melee weapon that was born from an ancient sport known as Boxing but was most popular in the Roman Coliseum. Boxing wasn’t invented by the Americans, British, Italians, or Irish, despite its popularity in those nations. It didn’t originate from Mexico or Russia either. In fact none of these countries existed when evidence of boxing was discovered from over 3,000 years ago in the Mesopotamia region.

The Cestus (Art by TL Jeffcoat)

Since this isn’t a history lesson on boxing, let’s get back to the Cestus. The Cestus is what the Greeks called the leather straps around their hands. When the Greeks first designed the Cestus, it was just leather. It was meant to soften the contact between an opponent’s face and the knuckles. This made boxing more of a sport than actual combat.

The Roman’s snatched the concept and went the complete opposite direction from safety. They fitted the leather straps with iron bands to make it easier to open someone’s skull or shatter ribs. It was easy to master which made it ideal for gladiators. You just punched like you would if you were boxing. This loop of iron strapped to the knuckles was eventually banned from the arena by 393 AD because a Cestus in hand to hand fighting was too bloody. Knowing what went on in the Coliseum, brawls with the Cestus must have been so bloody even the Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, would be disgusted.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kestros of the Macedonians

This has to be one of the deadliest slings ever made. Unlike the standard stone tossing slings of the Stone Age, the Kestros was sharp, and capable of penetrating light armor when thrown hard enough. The sharpened and weighted tip can do serious damage to an enemy on the battle field if not deflected by metallic armor. In motion the Kestros looks more like a double sling with straps around an iron tipped dart. The dart was usually around a foot in length or maybe a little more and built similar to an arrow. The entire tip is metal and purposely weighs more than the rest of the dart. This forces the tip to face front while airborne, and allows the shaft and feathers, or something similar, to guide it in a straight path.

The Kestros Art by TL Jeffcoat

Macedonian troops (a nation of ancient Greece) under the rule of King Perseus around 150 BC were known to train and use the Kestros in a few battles. It wasn’t used for a very long time, as technology quickly turned to more reliable ranged weapons. The Kestros was a light weight and easy weapon to carry with a quiver of darts that can be slung over a shoulder. The only downside of this deadly sling weapon is the winding up throw. Just like the sling, it was eventually replaced with weapons that didn’t require spinning it before attacking or used lighter ammo.

Weapons & Warriors: Spartan Phalanx, The War Machine

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Part 2 of the double header finale for the Spartans. The conclusion to yesterdays post about the warrior culture that made the Spartan Phalanx the most elite hoplite formation in history.

If you read some of the previous posts on Sparta, you’ve already got a grasp on what a phalanx is. Simply put, it’s a rectangular formation of heavily armed infantry. They move as one and fight as one. The key item of the phalanx was the Aspis. This large round shield was large enough to protect a man fully if he crouched behind it. The trick to using it with a unit of men is by holding it slightly to their left so the wielder could see around the edge of the right and stab his Dory spear at anything that crossed his vision. Not only the Spartan holding the shield in the front was wielding a spear through the opening. The rows of soldiers behind the front row would stick their spears out as well, creating a layered porcupine effect. The shield would protect the entire left side of the Spartan and offer some protection to the right side of the Spartan on his left.This allowed the men in front to focus on killing what was directly in front of them, and the fewer angles you had to worry about, the more focused you could be on what was in your path.

This second row held their shield up overhead and angled to where it added a higher barrier to the one in the very front row to block arrows, spears or other projectiles from penetrating into the phalanx. Therefore protecting the men not involved in the combat yet. The rows behind these other rows would also hold their shields high, to protect themselves from any projectiles from above. Their shields were made so thick and solid, that no matter how many arrows an enemy could fire, the shield would never be rendered useless.

From a distance, the phalanx would appear as a bronze wall with many spears protruding from the front, either slowly marching toward the enemy or digging into a defensive position. They could literally wait all day when they were defending their place. For example, the Spartans at Thermopylae defended a narrow valley against a tremendous land army. It only took three hundred to defend the pass.

At that time, most nations bowed to Xerxes without even putting up a fight, in fear of being crushed by his massive army. It could possibly be the biggest army to ever be assembled in those times. Yet, despite their numbers, they still had inferior training, and relied more on their ability to overwhelm opponents facing them in open ground. When they came upon the single phalanx in the valley, they assumed they would just crush it with numbers. What a surprise it must have been to Xerxes when not only did they fail to crush it on the first push, but they were repelled. They continued to repel the Persians until scouts found a secret path through the mountains to allow them to flank the Spartans. The seven to eight hundred Greeks protecting the Spartans flanks never stood a chance, because they were not raised like Spartans. They were from places like Athens, and had come to help King Leonidas, but they were nothing but farmers and blacksmiths. None of them were soldiers.

Moving and fighting in unison is not easy, especially without radios or bullhorns to shout over all the screaming in mid combat. The Spartans spent time every day by lining up in their formation and practicing marching and fighting as a unit. Each was trained to fight the correct way no matter where they stood in their formation. This way, if someone fell in front of them, they could immediately close the gap and the phalanx would hold tight. Whenever an order was given by the commander of the phalanx, it was passed on by those around him so that all of the phalanx would know their plans. The video in yesterday’s post about Spartan Culture also shows great examples of the Spartan war machine in action.

The Dory was the main weapon used by the Spartans as the enemy stepped into range. The spear tips would spring out from the small gaps between shields with deadly accuracy and then retract as fast. The double tipped Dory was designed exactly for this purpose. When the tip was broken on one end of the Dory, the Spartan would flip it and use the bladed rear. If both ends were broken, the Spartan drew his Kopis. This meat cleaver usually meant more motion and closer enemies, but this is what the Spartan lived for. Even down to their swords, the Spartans would hold the phalanx and rarely break formation, hacking away their enemies from behind their impenetrable shields.

The secret to the Spartan’s phalanx that allowed this temporary victory against such impossible odds was more than the formation of the bronze wall. It was the Spartan culture, their military training from youth. The entire nation was built for war, and as the war raged on after the battle at Thermopylae was over, the Spartans took command of the united Greek nations to stand against the Persians and not only expel them once and for all, but then advanced into the Persian borders and claimed several key areas that made sure that the Persians would never return. They invaded their invaders. I bet Xerxes never expected a tiny blip on the map to ever do that to his vast empire.


Next week I will start an in-depth look at the ingenious and rare weapons of the Rajput.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Weapons and Warriors, click here to view the entire catalog of weapons and cultures. Thank you, see you next week.

Weapons & Warriors: Spartan Culture, Warriors from Birth

I opened with the look inside the movie of 300 because it mentions things about the culture of Sparta that is believed to be true by many historians. That includes throwing imperfect newborns into the sea. Everything about the way the Spartans were raised was about warfare. These people really believed they were the direct descendants of Hercules.

While we’re on the topic of culture, one of the areas of training the Spartans focused on was hand to hand combat. The Aspis, Dory and Kopis were just the first weapons in their arsenal. Included along with these dangerous objects was the Spartan himself. As strong as blacksmiths, and as agile as hunters, there wasn’t a tougher, meaner and better trained warrior in the ancient world.

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

It wasn’t just the men who trained from the age of two. It was also the women. The Spartans were one of the earliest cultures to adopt a gender equality concept. In most Greek nations at that time, women were considered inferior, and were not allowed to participate in military training or get involve in political discussions. They were not even allowed to use money. In Sparta, a woman without the scars of her training and discipline was considered a coward, and was ridiculed by the other women and shunned by the men. The more scars the woman bore from her discipline and training, the more influence she gained. It’s unclear if the Spartan women were influenced by the Amazon women, but there are many similarities in that they were very strong minded and physically capable of fighting equal to the men.

Have you ever heard of Helen of Troy, the Spartan woman that sparked the Trojan War? She wasn’t a dainty helpless princess like the movies depict. She was strong mentally and physically, and well sought after in Sparta. After many men came to gain her hand in marriage, her father asked Odysseus to help him choose a  husband for her. She probably wasn’t abducted by Paris of Troy, but more  likely persuaded him to take her away. Paris was not a hero, or a warrior and by all means was a coward by the standards of Sparta. A few historians speculate that Helen even grew to despise Paris as a weak man when he hid behind his walls and let his brother Hector fight for him. Those same historians also believe that Helen began a relationship with Hector before he was killed in the war. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hector is the real reason she ran away, he was as great a fighter as any Spartan and was a hero of Troy.

Spartans encouraged their youth to be headstrong and vigilant. When a youth was out of line or broke a rule, no matter if it was a boy or girl, they were lashed for their crime. This was as much as an encouragement as it was punishment. It was a way to prove your resilience, to be headstrong and then to accept the punishment and the scars from it and wear them like trophies the rest of your life.

 The culture of the Spartans raised them to be tough and hard. Tomorrow, I’ll be discussing the ultimate weapon of the Spartans. The one thing that all this training was for, the Phalanx...

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Weapons and Warriors, click here to view the entire catalog of weapons and cultures. Thank you, see you next week.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kopis of Sparta

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Some may remember this widely feared sword in the hands of Gerard Butler as he hacked legs and arms off Persians in slow motion. For those who haven’t seen the movie 300, if you love ancient warfare movies or artsy storytelling, you should check it out. It is bloody and full of mythically exaggerated Persians, but it's a very well done story, based on a true battle that altered the path of the world conquering Persians who were lead by the legendary Xerxes. If you have a weak stomach for blood, it's very bloody and violent.

The Kopis should have been more related to the axe than the sword. This was the scariest sword of ancient Greece. The blade is about three feet long and curves forward, making it perfect for thrusting around a shield. The end of the blade is wider than a normal sword and heavier by design. The added weight allows this sword to be used like an axe, efficiently hacking through bone with a single swipe. This blade was often used for cutting meat or slaughtering animals for sacrifices.