Abgar of Edessa

Abgar V of Edessa
Ruler of the kingdom of Osroene
Icon of Abgar holding the mandylion, the image of Christ (encaustic, 10th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai).
Died	c. 40
Spouse	Helena of Adiabene

Abgar V the Black or Abgarus V of Edessa (Syriac: ܐܒܓܪ ܚܡܝܫܝܐ ܐܘܟܡܐ‎, translit. ʾAḇgar Ḥəmišāyā ʾUkkāmā, Armenian: Աբգար Ե Եդեսացի, translit. Abgar Hingerord Yedesatsi, Greek: Ἄβγαρος Abgaros) (BC 4 – AD 7 and AD 13–c. 40) was a historical ruler of the kingdom of Osroene, holding his capital at Edessa.

Movses Khorenatsi says that the chief wife of King Abgar V was Queen Helena of Adiabene, the wife of King Monobaz I of Adiabene, and thus the kingdoms of Edessa and Adiabene were linked in some manner. Professor Robert Eisenman suggests that Queen Helena was the sister-wife of King Abgar V who was given the lands of Adiabene by her brother-husband, the king. Professor Eisenman derived this association from Moses of Chorene mentioning the same famine relief to Judaea as does Flavius Josephus:

The chief of King Abgar’s wives, who was named Helena ... Helena went away to Jerusalem in the time of Claudius, during the famine which Agabus had predicted. Spending all her treasures she bought an immense amount of grain in Egypt, which she distributed to the poor, to which Josephus bears witness. Her famous mausoleum stands before the gate at Jerusalem to this very day.:

Professor Eisenman goes on to equate King Abgarus V with the Agabus in Acts of the Apostles (Acts 11:27-30), because Agabus was identified with the same famine relief as Queen Helena. By necessity Eisenman then equates the biblical Antioch Orontes with Antioch Edessa, indicating that Paul the Apostle and Barnabas went to Edessa.