First page Back Continue Last page Overview Graphics

• As we noted more fully in our introduction to the Estrangela script, Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History contains the record of King Abgarus of Edessa, who wrote to Jesus to ask him to come and heal him of his disease, knowing that Jesus had already cleansed many lepers, and healed the lame, the blind and the sick.
• But Eusebius tells us that these royal records were written in Syriac, the dialect of Aramaic which is used to record the Peshitta New Testament and the Peshitta Old Testament. This provides further evidence for much of what has been explained in other lessons on this website - namely, that Aramaic, and Syriac in particular, was extensively used at the time, including for communication in the Land of Israel, even including communication with Jesus himself!