Aëtius of Antioch (Aëtius Antiochenus, fl. 350), surnamed "the Atheist", founder of an extreme sect of Arians, was a native of Coele-Syria. After working as a vine-dresser and then as a goldsmith, he became a travelling doctor, and displayed great skill in disputations on medical subjects; but his controversial power soon found a wider field for its exercise in the great theological question of the time. He studied successively under the Arians, Paulinus, bishop of Antioch, Athanasius, bishop of Anazarbus, and the presbyter Antonius of Tarsus.