Wound management is an art and as old as the existence of humanity. It can only be assumed that the selection of various materials having wound-healing properties occurred by trial and error over a period. The result was that many effective topical treatments had become available by the time civilisations began to appear about 6000 years ago. The oldest known wound care product is supposed to be beer. The Egyptians may have been the first to use bandages and were most probably the first people to apply honey to the wounds. Chinese practitioners used the extract and tincture of tea leaves for wound dressings. The Greeks were very well aware of the importance of wound closure and were the first to differentiate between acute and chronic wounds, calling them 'fresh' and 'non-healing', respectively. This review shines a light on the background and evolution of different practices engaged in wound management in the ancient times. The well-established principles of wound management in today's practice are the advancement of the principles adopted in the ancient times.