The use of urinary catheters to relieve urinary retention is a procedure that has been described since ancient times. Transurethral insertion of bronze tubes, reeds and curled palm leaves for this purpose has been identified in ancient Egyptian papyri dating back to 1500 BC. Ancient Chinese and Indian texts describe similar use, respectively, of hollow onion leaves, and metal tubes coated in ghee. In European medicine, catheterisation was alluded to in Hippocratic texts and was described in detail by Roman encyclopaedist Celsus in approximately 40 AD. These early accounts all describe rigid tubes, and Persian philosopher Avicenna is often credited with the first use of a flexible catheter constructed from animal skins in 1036. In-dwelling catheterisation was first documented the 16th century, with Fabricius of Acquapendente developing a cloth catheter, impregnated with wax and moulded on a silver sound. Difficulty with male catheterisation has long been recognised, and in 1836 Louis Auguste Mercier invented the coudé or ‘elbow’ tipped catheter which is still used to this day. The first rubber catheter was conceived in the 18th century, but it was not until the development of vulcanised rubber in the 1840s that these became durable enough for routine use. Early self-retaining catheters were developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which paved the way for the modern Foley catheter which was introduced in the 1930s.