Can Urinary Stones Change History?

Urolithiasis is a common disorder born with the first hominids and the earliest texts describing symptoms date back to 3200 BC in Mesopotamia. The symptoms have always been the same, whereas the possibility of treatment has changed throughout the history. Gaius Plinius Secondus, known as Pliny the Elder, in his work "Naturalis Historia," described the pain produced by a urinary stone as an excruciating torment. When there was not an effective remedy, could this atrocious torment change the lives and choices of men? When the affected people were kings, powerful, or artists, could renal colic affect their political decisions or their artistic works? I answer positively to these questions. I will set some historical facts to demonstrate this. We will see how the surgical treatment of urolithiasis contributed to separating medicine from surgery in medieval Europe. I will tell how an archer's life was saved by perineal lithotomy surgery. I will try to prove that Michelangelo Buonarroti left traces of his stone disease in the Sistine Ceiling. Finally, I will connect the foundation of Rome, capital of the Kingdom of Italy, to bladder stones. A cultural-scientific game, not a historical treatise, in which I will try to connect some important events to urinary calculi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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