Aelius Aristides (AD 117 - 181) was a Greek writer during the Roman Empire, considered an example of the Second Sophistic.

He studied under Alexander of Cotiaeon , the tutor of Marcus Aurelius. A career as an orator ended at the age of 26 when he was afflicted during a visit to Rome with the first of a long series of illnesses, possibly of a psychosomatic origin. He retired to Smyrna where between bouts of illnesses he wrote and gave lectures.

His best work is considered to be the Sacred Teachings. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the remainder of his surviving writings, although praised by his contemporaries, is of primary interest for the incidental light they cast on the social history of Asia Minor in the 2nd century AD.