Aëtius of Amida

Aëtius was born a Greek[6][7] and a native of Amida (modern Diyarbakır, Turkey), a city of Mesopotamia,[8] and studied at Alexandria, which was the most famous medical school of the age.

Aëtius mentions Patriarch Cyril of Alexandria, who died in 444,[9] and Petrus archiater, probably the physician of Theodoric the Great,[10] whom he defines as a contemporary, so it appears that he wrote at the very end of the 5th century or the beginning of the 6th.

In some manuscripts Aëtius has the title of komēs opsikiou (κόμης ὀψικίου), Latin comes obsequii, which means the chief officer in attendance on the emperor.

[12] Aëtius seems to be the first Greek medical writer among the Christians who gives any specimen of the spells and charms so much in vogue with the Egyptians, such as that of Saint Blaise in removing a bone which sticks in the throat,[13] and another in relation to a fistula.

[17] Aëtius is recorded as having developed a concoction for contraception consisting of aloe, wallflower seed, pepper, and saffron.