Brass knuckles definitely give you an advantage.  Ever since the dawn of fighting, there has always been those combatants who wanted an edge over their opponents, whether it is on the battlefield, on the streets or in the ring.  Brass knuckles are considered to be one of the best close-quarters melee weapons.  They have a bloody history originating from the Ancient Greek Olympic games around 2,700 years ago.

Himantes (singular himas)
Hand-wrapping for combat has been around for millennia.  Along with running, wrestling, and the use of weapons, boxing was part of a young man’s education in ancient Greece.  Boxing was first introduced as an event at the ancient Olympic games in 688 BC.  The Greeks would wrap their hands in preparation for these boxing events.  These particular wraps were called Meilichai Himantes and were made of thin soft ox-hide leather approximately 3 to 4 meters long (10 to 12 feet), which were greased or oiled in order to be soft. They were wrapped around the first knuckles of the fingers, then ran diagonally across the palm onto the back of the hand, leaving the thumb uncovered. Then, they were tied around the wrist and were also frequently laced and tied round the forearm as high as the elbow.  This helped to strengthen their wrists and steady their fingers, hold the fingers together, binding them stiffly into a round shape, like some sort of club to make them better for striking.

Because these himantes were time-consuming to wrap, by the 4th century BC, boxers no longer wrapped the straps but instead started to wear a kind of glove that was already formed from ready-wound leather straps.  These gloves, called Oxeis Himantes, which left the fingertips free, were heavier and more damaging, had reinforced harder larger thicker leather straps across the back of the hand and knuckles in order to render their blows more powerful.  The glove continued to change, they also added an inner lined layer of wool as padding inside to help protect the hand and forearm.

Originally, himantes were more to protect the wearer’s knuckles from injury than to protect their opponent.  Over time, these fastened strips of leather evolved to become sharper and harder.  They started to become more offensive then defensive.

Cestus (singular Caustus)
The Romans changed the Greek art of boxing into an inhuman and deadly competition.  By 100 BC, the Romans had invented the Cestus, the ancient world’s equivalent to brass knuckles.  In their quest for blood, the Romans altered the Oxeis Himantes from a protective device into an offensive menacing weapon designed to injure, mutilate, and even kill.  The Cestus was the first leather gauntlet that was frequently covered with knots and nails, or studded with metal spikes, iron plates, cutting blades or razor edges on the back and across the knuckles.  This allowed each punch to cut up an opponent and even a glancing blow would deal damage.  The combatants often fought until one was fatally injured.  They were also commonly used in gladiator bouts against unarmed combatants, usually slaves who fought to the death, transforming the sport of boxing into a brutal gladiatorial spectacle. Such formidable weapons in the hands of a trained boxer, must have frequently occasioned death.  This form of boxing became increasingly bloody until the Cestus was officially banned in the 1st century BC.  Hand-to-hand competition fighting in general was later banned 393 AD.

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