Adolf von Harnack and many later scholars believe a corruption of a story of Abgar IX corresponding with Pope Eleuterus was the origin of the legend of King Lucius of Britain, who supposedly introduced Christianity to his realm.
The description agrees with the so-called Abgar picture of Jesus; it also agrees with the portrait of Jesus Christ drawn by Nicephorus, St. John Damascene, and the Book of Painters (of Mt. Athos).