Copper-containing drugs enjoyed widespread application for treatment of many diseases in the past. A medical encyclopedia originating from the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (approximately 1550 BC), Papyros Ebers mentions many examples. Along with many other preparations, suspensions and/or ointments containing copper flakes or malachite were used for treatment of pain in the joints. In Roman times more than 20 different recipes using copper minerals, slag derived from copper mining, verdigris, and elemental copper are known. Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) summarizes the preparations in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia . These remedies were reported to heal a great number of diseases of the skin as well as of the eyes. They were also beneficial in healing ulcers, skin wounds, and inflamed mucous membranes. The use of copper lasted until the beginning of this century; its use has begun to be reevaluated by modern medicine. Copper presents several properties including positive redox potential, strong chelating activity, and extraordinary kinetic properties. Oxygen belongs to its preferred substrates. One of the major causes of imflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis is assigned to the action of excited oxygen species. A correlation of the biochemical properties of copper with the biological aspects of inflammation is presented.