ABSTRACT
Sextus Julius Africanus ranks among the most active and publicly visible Christians of the pre-Constantinian era. He seems to turn up everywhere, in Edessa for an extended stay in the court of Abgar the Great, on location at various archaeological and pilgrimage sites throughout Palestine and the Roman Near East, scouring libraries throughout the Mediterranean world in search of manuscripts of Homer, presiding over a delegation to Rome from Emmaus, and even assisting the emperor in his cultural and building projects. By most applicable measures, Sextus Julius Africanus would have to be considered one of the great success stories of Roman imperial policy in the Greek-speaking Near East. Among the many destinations of Africanus active itinerary, the one location that left him with the most enduring impressions was the Mesopotamian kingdom of Edessa. Africanus' recollection of his memorable stay in Edessa appears in the Kestoi, a work written well after the kingdom had already been dissolved, and Prince Ma'nu deposed.
