King Abgar V of Edessa

When did King Abgar V die?

King Abgar V of Edessa is dated d. c. AD 50 (trad. convert of Addai) in the archive, which places King Abgar V in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

What did King Abgar V write?

King Abgar V of Edessa has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Letter of Abgar to Jesus (legendary).

Which early sources mention King Abgar V?

King Abgar V of Edessa is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea, Egeria the pilgrim and The Edessene tradition. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was King Abgar V from?

The archive associates King Abgar V of Edessa with Edessa.

Abgarus, ruler of Edessa, to Jesus the excellent Saviour who has appeared in the country of Jerusalem, greeting. I have heard the reports of thee and of thy cures.

Earliest witness · Syriac version (St Petersburg codex, dated AD 462) (AD 462)

King Abgar… afflicted with a terrible disease, sent a message to Jesus by a courier and begged him to heal his disease. There is also documentary evidence of these things, taken from the archives of Edessa.

The bishop read us the letters themselves.

Thy city shall be blessed, and no enemy shall again become master of it for ever.

The Syriac Doctrina Addai, the Edessene foundation legend in its developed form, c. AD 400, which carries the Abgar correspondence and the blessing on the city. English translation by Benjamin Plummer Pratten in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8 (1886), public domain; Syriac text with facing translation also in George Phillips, The Doctrine of Addai, the Apostle (London, 1876).