The New International Encyclopædia/Abgar

AB'GAR. A common name or title of several kings of Edessa in northwestern Mesopotamia. One of them is known from an alleged correspondence with Christ. The account given by Eusebius {Ecclesiastical History, xiii., i.) states that he sent a letter to Christ requesting him to come to Mesopotamia and heal him. To this Christ made a reply that although unable himself to come, he would, after his ascension, send a disciple. Both of these letters Eusebius claims to have found in the archives of Edessa and believes to be genuine. Other versions add that Christ sent to the king a portrait, now displayed at both Rome and Genoa. Consult: R. A. Lipsius, Die Edessenische Abgar Sage (Brunswick, 1880).