The ancient city of Edessa (modern-day Urfa, Turkey), well-watered and located on a trade route, underwent major urban development in the Seleucid period and came under Parthian influence at the end of the second century. Its rulers - the Abgarid dynasty with Arab/Nabatean connections - pursued a semi-independent policy until Edessa came permanently within the Roman orbit under Septimius Severus.

Roman Edessa offers a comprehensive and erudite analysis of the ancient city of Edessa (modern day Urfa, Turkey), which constituted a remarkable amalgam of the East and the West. Among the areas explored are:

• the cultural life and antecedents of Edessa
• Edessene religion
• the extent of the Hellenization at Edessa before the advent of Christianity
• the myth of an exchange of letters between a King Abgar and Jesus.