Medically Reviewed by Dr. Andrew Stein MD, Consultant Nephrologist (kidney specialist). Last updated: April 2026
Ancient civilisations lacked modern laboratories, but they were remarkably observant. To them, urine served as a diagnostic window, a chemical resource, and even a medium for the ‘divine.’
Physicians in ancient Greece and Byzantium practiced uroscopy, the study of urine to evaluate health. This dates back to at least the 4th century BCE (Usta et al., 2024). Practitioners developed complex charts, often called “urine wheels,” to link specific shades—ranging from “pale as crystal” to “black as ink”—to internal imbalances of the four humors (Diskin, 2008).
Ancient Indian physicians, such as Sushruta (circa 400–500 CE), identified a disease characterised by “honey urine” (madhumeha) because it attracted ants. They were even able to distinguish between what are now known as Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes based on the patient’s physical condition and the onset of symptoms (Karamanou, 2016).
Urine contains urea, which breaks down into ammonia when aged. Ancient Romans utilised this chemical property in industrial laundries known as fullonicae, where urine was used as a detergent to clean and whiten fabric. Large collection vessels were placed on street corners to gather this “liquid gold” (MDPI, 2016).
Urine was essential for ancient leather production. Tanners soaked animal hides in stale urine to soften them and facilitate the removal of hair and remaining flesh (MDPI, 2016). It was a vital, albeit pungent, component of the industrial process for creating durable leather goods.
Roman society famously used urine as a mouthwash to whiten teeth. The ammonia acted as a bleaching agent and disinfectant, a practice common enough to be noted in the historical record as a method for maintaining dental hygiene (MDPI, 2016).
In 1669, the alchemist Hennig Brand, while searching for the “Philosopher’s Stone,” boiled down vast quantities of urine. While he did not find gold, he successfully isolated phosphorus, a substance that glowed in the dark (chemiluminescence), making it one of the first elements discovered through alchemical experimentation (Eknoyan & Lederer, 2024).
The ancient Egyptians developed a germination test using wheat and barley. A woman would urinate on bags of the grain; if they germinated, she was pregnant. Modern experiments have found this method to be approximately 70% to 80% accurate, as the hormones in pregnant urine can stimulate growth (Ghalioungui et al., 1963).
Early agricultural societies recognised urine was rich in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. It was often applied as a fertiliser to boost crop yields, effectively recycling human nutrients back into the soil long before the chemical composition of fertilisers was scientifically defined (MDPI, 2016).
Ancient military strategists discovered that urine could function as a primitive invisible ink. Because it is slightly acidic, a message written in urine remains invisible once dry but turns brown and becomes legible when exposed to a heat source, such as a candle flame.
In some cultures, urine was regarded as a “divine fluid” or a window to the body (Usta et al., 2024). Certain traditions used it for spiritual cleansing or even for recycling psychoactive compounds—such as Siberian shamans who consumed the urine of reindeer that had eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Diskin, C. J. (2008). de Ketham revisited: a modern‐day urine wheel. Medical Journal of Australia, 189(11), 658–659. https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb02232.x Cited by: 11
Eknoyan, G., & Lederer, E. D. (2024). Phosphorus: Chronicles of the epistemology of a vital element. Clinical Nephrology, 102, 117–124. https://doi.org/10.5414/cn111435 Cited by: 0
Ghalioungui, P., Khalil, S., & Ammar, A. R. (1963). On an ancient Egyptian method of diagnosing pregnancy and determining foetal sex. Medical History, 7, 241–246. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025727300028386 Cited by: 75
Karamanou, M. (2016). Milestones in the history of diabetes mellitus: The main contributors. World Journal of Diabetes, 7(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.4239/wjd.v7.i1.1 Cited by: 551
MDPI. (2016). History of Urinalysis. Applied Sciences, 16(1). https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/16/1/175
Usta, O., Besli, Y., & Ergonul, O. (2024). Urinalysis in medical diagnosis: The historical and contemporary usage. Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, 6(147-150). https://doi.org/10.36519/idcm.2024.389 Cited by: 1
Does learning about the scientific accuracy of the Egyptian pregnancy test change how you view ancient “folk” medicine?
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