Therapeutic strategies for cancer in late antiquity: Evidence from Aetius of Amida's medical compendium

This article examines the therapeutic management of malignant disease in the medical compendium of Aetius of Amida, treating the Tetrabiblon as evidence for late antique medical practice rather than merely as a repository of inherited theory. Focusing on passages concerning breast and uterine carcinomas, it analyses diagnostic description, surgical criteria, post-operative care, and pharmacological treatment. The article argues that Aetius preserves a coherent therapeutic framework structured around diagnostic classification, anatomical accessibility, prognostic evaluation, and humoral regulation which determine the choice between excision, cauterization, and palliative care. The study further shows that Aetius' pharmacological material, combining botanical, mineral, and animal-derived substances, reflects a practical and symptom-oriented approach to malignant disease. It suggests that late antique physicians possessed a more nuanced practical understanding of tumour progression and therapeutic limits than is often assumed.