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• Estrangela was the Aramaic script used extensively throughout the whole of northern Mesopotamia - covering extensive regions of the Middle East today, including Turkey, Armenia, Syria and Lebanon - although in the first century A.D., those countries did not have the names and boundaries which they have today.
• King Abgar of Edessa ruled this northern region at the time that Jesus and the disciples were preaching in Israel. His kingdom was centered around Edessa, and they used the Estrangela writing system. King Abgar became an early convert to Christianity. He was converted by Addai (or Thaddai), one of the 70 disciples sent out by Jesus. The King became mortally ill, and had heard that Jesus (in Israel) could perform miracles. He sent for Jesus, only to find that he had recently been crucified. Instead, Thaddai came and healed him, converting him to Christianity in the process.