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For most people a hangover will have them reaching for the painkillers and greasy breakfast, but those living in ancient Egypt had a rather different approach.

Historians have discovered a 1,900-year-old hangover cure written on an ancient Egyptian papyrus.

Written in Greek, one of the medical recipes offers advice for how to tackle a 'drunken headache' - with the leaves of a shrub called Alexandrian chamaedaphne, or sometimes Alexandrian laurel.

The text recommends stringing the leaves of the evergreen plant, also called Ruscus racemosus, together and possibly wearing it around the neck.

This papyrus was found in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, and contains a medical 'recipe' for treating a hangover

While the text recommends this as a way of relieving headaches brought on by alcohol, it is not known if it had any effect.

The treatment was discovered as part of an ongoing effort to translate the Oxyrhynchus papyrus - more than 500,000 documents found in an ancient rubbish tip at the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus, about 100 miles south of Cairo.

The hangover treatment was one of 24 new medical texts that are the latest to be translated - the 101st volume of translations to be published.

Among the documents, researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London have found 11 copies of known medical texts by Galen and Hippocrates alongside the new medical texts.

They also found four documents that appeared to be doctors notes.

Dr David Leith, a historian and research fellow at the University of Exeter who translated the medical papyrus, said: 'The remedies appear to cross what we might see as the boundary between magic and medicine - and although some ancient doctors disliked making use of "magical" remedies, this was far from always the case.'

The recipe for drunken headache - kraipale in Greek - read: 'For drunken headache: wear leaves of Alexandrian chamaedaphne strung together.'

Dr Leith said: 'The plant name literally means "ground laurel/bay", and its leaves are often compared to bay leaves in ancient botanical literature.' 

The papyrus were discovered during excavations at Oxyrhynchus in 1890 by Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt from Queen's College at the University of University.

Around 10 per cent of the papyri have been found to be literary and many are private documents, codes, registers, official correspondence, tax records, bills, leases, horoscopes and inventories.

Alexandrian chamaedaphne, sometimes called Dane racemosa (above) was recommended as a cure for hangovers in Egypt 1,900 years ago by stringing the leaves in a garland that was hung around the neck

Dr Margarent Mountford, a papyrologist at the Egypt Exploration Society, which owns the papyrus texts, said: 'These texts are hugely important as they give us an insight into daily life at the time.

'Some were copies of ancient Greek medical texts but there were some original medical texts - which look more like magical spells in some ways.

'The hangover cure for example involves handing a laurel around the neck. I have my doubts if this would have worked but perhaps it had more of a placebo effect.' 

Professor Vivian Nutton, a historian at University College London who was one of those taking part in the translations, described them as 'the largest single collection of medical papyri to be published.'

Hundreds of thousands of texts written on papyrus were found at Oxyrhynchus during the excavation (above)

The papyrus are owned by the Egypt Exploration Society and kept at the Sackler Library at the University of Oxford.

The medical documents all date from the first century AD to the sixth century AD.

These images of some of the medical papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus contain descriptions for treating eye conditions, fever and haemorrhoids with surgery

It is thought the hangover cure may have been necessary as many ancient societies drank wine rather than water, which was unsanitised.

The newly translated medical texts also include recipes for helping to halt the spread of ulcers, others for treating hemorrhoids, toothache, gangrene and a dozen for treating eye conditions.

One recipe describes the need to rub a decapitated ant onto a stye. 

Another for treating a discharge of mucus from the eyes called rheum, uses a mixture of copper flakes, antimony oxide, white lead, washed lead dross, starch, dried roses, rain water, gum Arabic, poppy juice and a plant called Celtic spikenard.

Another gruesome text explains the technique for eye surgery to treat someone whose eyelid had turned inside out.

While fragmented, it still makes unpleasant reading.

It says: 'the eye... i began... by the temple... the other from the temple... to remove with a small round-bladed knife... the edge of the eyelid from outside... from within until I scooped out.'

Dr Leith said many of the recipes could have been written out like prescriptions for people to follow.

He said: 'We tried to give a good selection of different types of medical text in the volume.

'For example there are scholarly commentaries on famous medical writings, surgical texts, handbooks for students giving definitions of medical terms, treatises on acute diseases, as well as instructions on preparing perfumed oils - which could be used for medical purposes - and medical recipes. 

The documents were found at the ancient town of Oxyrhynchus, in Egypt around 100miles (160km) form Cairo

'One of the fragments contains a detailed description of the surgical procedure for removing haemorrhoids, though the author emphasises that in operating on the patient one of the haemorrhoids must be left untouched. 

'Two others offer in-depth discussions of different kinds of fever and their treatment.

'It's natural to assume that most of these Oxyrhynchus papyri will have been bought or copied by doctors too for their own use. 

'On the other hand, some of the medical recipes may have been copied out by ordinary individuals, so that they could have particular remedies to hand for themselves or their families.'

This papyrus is an example of texts discoverd at Oxyrhynchus and features Euclid's Elements of Geometry

Ancient Egyptians would did not have modern hangover cures and used strings of leaves instead, according to new translations of 1,900 year old texts found at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Image above posed by a model

ANCIENT EGYPT HAD ITS OWN VERSION OF THE NHS

The longest medical papyrus ever found is the Papyrus Ebers (pictured). It contains more than 800 treatments for eye problems to digestive disorders

Texts found on the site of Deir el-Medina identify a workman on the crew designated as the 'swnw', or physician.

The physician was given an assistant and both were allotted days off to prepare medicine and take care of colleagues.

This physician would have most likely treated the workmen with remedies and incantations found in his medical papyrus. 

These texts acted like a reference book for the ancient Egyptian medical practitioner, listing individual treatments for different ailments. 

The longest of these ever found is called Papyrus Ebers and contains more than 800 treatments covering eye problems to digestive disorders. 

The source of the papyrus is unknown, but it was said to have been found between the legs of a mummy in the Theban necropolis. 

A suggested treatment for a condition that had symptoms similar to asthma is listed as a mixture of herbs heated on a brick so the sufferer could inhale the fumes.

Another treatment, this time for intestinal worms, required the physician to cook the cores of dates and a desert plant called colocynth together in sweet beer.

He would then have sieved the warm liquid and gave it to the patient to drink for four days.

While smearing a paste of dates, acacia, and honey to wool and applying it as a pessary would be used as a form of contraception by the worker's wives.