Originally pills were small rounded balls of medicine, though now the word refers to capsules and tablets too. In their original form, pills can be traced back to 1500 BCE, though evidence of medicinal treatments date as far back as 4000 BCE, with reference to liquid preparations being found in ancient Assyrian writing. The obvious advantage of the pill over liquid medicine, as people discovered thousands of year ago, is the ability to regulate the amount of medicine given to the patient at any one time. The earliest reference to actual pills come from Ancient Egypt, with recorded recipes for pills made with honey, grease, or bread. These base substances must have held the medicines together well because the active ingredients, such as saffron or cinnamon, were mixed into them. Pills were then formed by using the hands to roll the mixture into small balls. The word “pill” didn’t come from these times though. It wasn’t until the Roman era that Pliny, who lived in the first century CE, used the term “pilula”