This review deals with the most meaningful historical topics on the study of synovial fluid, by starting from the Greco-Roman Medicine, up to Paracelsus (1493-1541), who introduced the term "synovia" to name the intra-articular humour. Afterwards, some till now unreported historical sources are recorded, e.g., a short text by the Italian XVIII century physician Giambattista Contoli ("Breve Inst...