[5][9][10] It has been suggested that a cross shown on the tiara of Abgar VIII in coins he minted has a Christian meaning.

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.

[1] In an additional display of loyalty, Abgar VIII took on the Roman name Lucius Aelius Aurelius Septimus.

[3] In 1904 Adolf von Harnack proposed that Lucius of Britain, a ruler mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis as contemporaneous with Pope Eleutherius, actually was Abgar of Edessa.

Harnack's proposal has been challenged by British archaeologist David J. Knight, who argued that Abgar of Edessa was never called Lucius of Britio/Birtha in contemporary sources.