Below, Bartram presents his theory of gospel authorship, attributed to Bardaisan, the precursor to Mani --- and the Ismaili
(Nasari -- Nazarene) sect of Shia Islam.
In the map of Bartram's I think Ellis has well shown that 'Adiabene' is really a name used by Josephus, and maybe others of the day, for Edessa. Josephus said that Adiabene was east of the Euphrates, not east of the tigris. and, as Ellis suggests, Arbela is geographically too far to make sense in many of the stories.
Also, not the interesting royal names mentioned below, with regards to Ellis's thesis:
Authorship
The source of the first gospel, which gave rise to the synoptic versions in the New Testament, is a product of Greek culture in the Levant sometime after Hadrian and before the 4th century (when the NT appears). The author had studied the appropriate texts (especially Josephus and Plutarch) and further, was conversant with the faith of Mesopotamia (the tradition of the sacrificial king) and the syncretic faiths (in this period) of the Levant, especially Syria. Lastly, he was motivated.
Bardaisan (Syriac: ܒܪ ܕܝܨܢ, Bardaiṣān),also known as Ibn daisan, also Latinized as Bardesanes(154–222), was a Syriac gnostic and founder of the Bardaisanites. A scientist, scholar, astrologer, philosopher and poet, Bardaisan was also renowned for his knowledge of India, on which he wrote a book, now lost...
Bardaisan (bar-Daisan meaning son of Daisan/leaping river in Aramaic ) was an Assyrian born on 11 July 154, in Edessa, which, in those days, was alternately under the influence of the Roman and the Parthian Empire. Edessa was a metropolis of Osroene. He is the creator of an offshoot of Mesopotamian religion named after his name which was the base of gnostic Mani and later gnostic Batini and Ismaili sub-sect of Shia...
...educated with the crown-prince of the Osrhoenic kingdom, at the court of Abgar VIII bar Manu.
Owing to political disturbances in Edessa, Bardaisan and his parents moved for a while to Hierapolis (Mabug), a strong centre of Babylonianism. Here the boy was brought up in the house of a priest Anuduzbar. In this school he learnt all the intricacies of Babylonian astrology...
According to tradition, during his youth he shared the education of a royal prince who afterwards became King of Edessa, perhaps Abgar X bar Manu (reigned Osroene 202-217).
Perhaps owing to the persecutions under Caracalla, Bardaisan for a time retreated into Armenia...
According to Sozomen's Ecclesiastical history, "Harmonius, his son, was deeply versed in Grecian erudition, and was the first to subdue his native tongue to meters and musical laws; these verses he delivered to the choirs".
Encounter with religious men from India
Porphyry states that on one occasion at Edessa, Bardaisan interviewed an Indian deputation of holy men (designated as Σαρμαναίοι,Sramanas) who had been sent to the Roman emperor Elagabalus or another Severan dynasty Roman Emperor, and questioned them as to the nature of Indian religion...
Did I mention the Skull and Bones Society previously?
Well, the Skull and Bones Bush family had a curiously close relationship with the hereditary (royal) leaders of the Ismaili sect, the Aga Khan's. Bush 41 was college roomate with the then future Aga Khan, and then played tennis with him regularly in their later lives. The then current Aga Khan had been the head of the failed League of Nations. The Aga Khan's had been declared legitimate descendants of Muhammad, PBUH of course, by a British court. The Ismailis built their American headquarters in Sugarland, Tx, where Poppy Bush retired to. Poppy Bush, when VP, got in some small trouble when it was alleged that he boinked his taxpayer paid secretary while staying at the Aga Khan's Swiss chalet. Any pee (Mithraic baptism) tapes? I must be forgetting something.
Oh yes, the Ismailis had a small group back in the day, known as the Assassins. Poppy Bush, in line with his covert and overt CIA days was associated with a CIA assassination squad, documented by Daniel Hopsicker in his
Barry and the Boys. 'Barry' being the infamous Barry Seal, CIA drug and weapons smuggler and once Civil Air Patrol cadet with alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, operating under their CAP mentor, 'Apostle' David Ferrie.
And, the Aga Khans kindly helped the CIA's Kermit Roosevelt (yes, of that family) overthrow the democratically elected Mosadegh in 1953, in favor of the Shah. Because that's how we Americans defend Democracy around the world.
All coincidence, nothing to see here. God's ways are mysterious, you know.