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Archaeology & History

Ancient Greek hangover cure discovered

By T.K. Randall
April 22, 2015 · Comment icon 15 comments

Having a hangover can make for a pretty lousy morning. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 Paul McIlroy
A 1,900-year-old papyrus containing a cure for 'drunken headaches' has been translated by researchers.
Hangovers are certainly nothing new - even the people who lived thousands of years ago struggled with the pounding headache associated with drinking too much alcohol the night before.

To help combat the problem physicians of the time had come up with a solution that was certainly a little unusual by today's standards - instead of swallowing a couple of painkillers with a glass of water, hangover sufferers were advised to wear a special necklace made out of leaves around their neck.
The leaves would be taken from the Alexandrian chamaedaphne shrub, a plant that was often credited with easing a sore head. How wearing the leaves reduced the discomfort of a hangover however remains unclear - perhaps the remedy had worked as more of a placebo effect.

The cure had been found written on papyrus among a huge cache of 500,000 documents discovered around a century ago in the ancient Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus.

Written in Greek, it has taken many years to examine and translate the aged papers which also contain a wide variety of other medical treatments ranging from the well known to the bizarre.

The latest selection to be released has been deemed the largest collection of its kind ever published.

Source: Live Science | Comments (15)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #6 Posted by jarjarbinks 9 years ago
I will test it this weekend, best excuse i can say to my wife to get drunk past the point of redemption !
Comment icon #7 Posted by Zalmoxis 9 years ago
Whatever, people did odd things back then.
Comment icon #8 Posted by Jacques Terreur 9 years ago
How do you say "One hair from large K9" in Greek tríches apó to skýlo pou dánko̱se
Comment icon #9 Posted by Jacques Terreur 9 years ago
I always felt that they were a head of the times, from what I have studied about them. The thing is, when reading the thread's title of Ancient Hangover Cure Found In Greek Texts, I was thinking that's because they really knew how to party! yeah, i was hoping to get something more effective.....my wife is greek, and every time her Family visits, that would come in pretty Handy
Comment icon #10 Posted by Father Merrin 9 years ago
I dont drink anymore but i had a concoction that cures a hangover within 20 min.... half a teaspoon of salt, 4 teaspoons of sugar, Teaspoon of baking soda, 1 Crushed multi vitamin pill 2 crushed ibuprofen 2 crushed solpadeine 2 crushed proplus i used to put all this into a banana smoothy or a protein shake, and within 20min the hangover was completely gone! Give it a try, it genuinely is a mirical cure
Comment icon #11 Posted by Lenore Graves 9 years ago
Pft...hangovers are just dehydration, just make sure to drink water between each drink and have a big glass right before bed! You'll feel fine in the morning!
Comment icon #12 Posted by MJNYC 9 years ago
I have the best hangover cure there is: drink two glasses of water before going to bed. You will not have a hangover. A hangover is caused by dehydration.
Comment icon #13 Posted by russ117044 9 years ago
I wonder if they had OBAMACARE?
Comment icon #14 Posted by paperdyer 9 years ago
I wonder if they had OBAMACARE? I think they called it CAESAURCARE.I've been lucky. I've only ever had 1 hangout. This was back when beer and shots are $1. I went through all my cash, had a tab of $90 and forgot the phone number of a girl I met. Bad night all around. That was about 40 years ago. At least I was on vacation.
Comment icon #15 Posted by thenIsaid 9 years ago
The leaves probably had an odor, releasing an essential oil, duh.


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