Abgar VIII
King of Osroene
Abgar VIII of Edessa, also known as Abgar the Great, or Abgar bar Ma'nu, was an Arab king of Osroene from 177 CE to 212 CE.
Abgar the Great was most remembered for his alleged conversion to Christianity in about 200 CE and the declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the city at that time. It has been suggested that a cross shown on the tiara of Abgar VIII in coins he minted has a Christian meaning.
Osroene was a client state of the Roman Empire at this time. Prior to Abgar VIII taking the throne, in 165 CE the Roman military had reinstated Ma'nu VIII and they continued to have a significant presence in the region. Nevertheless, Abgar VIII's initial actions suggest that he was not wholly loyal to Rome nor was closely monitored by Rome. While Abgar VIII's coins bear the image of the Roman Emperor Commodus, Abgar's goals were to maintain a degree of independence and to extend his influence geographically as much as possible without disturbing the greater powers of Rome and Parthia.
Abgar VIII supported Pescennius Niger as Roman Emperor in 193 CE. However Pescennius Niger was swiftly challenged and deposed by Emperor Septimius Severus. Abgar VIII's submission to Septimus Severus is portrayed on the Arch of Severus in Rome. He was not deposed, but Osroene was made a Roman province and Abgar's kingdom was reduced to a rump state containing just the city of Edessa. Abgar was fully reconciled with Severus and was later received with honour as a guest of the Emperor in Rome.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Abgar VIII” is king of Osroene. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Abgar, VIII and King, not as a finished interpretation.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q320149. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Abgar VIII” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.