calculated the date for the division of the kingdom is 931–930 BCE. Thiele noticed that for the first seven kings of Israel (ignoring Zimri's inconsequential seven-day reign), the synchronisms to Judean kings fell progressively behind by one year for each king. Thiele saw this as evidence that the northern kingdom was measuring the years by a non-accession system (first partial year of reign was counted as year one), whereas the southern kingdom was using the accession method (it was counted as year zero). Once this was understood, the various reign lengths and cross-synchronisms for these kings were worked out, and the sum of reigns for both kingdoms produced 931/930 BCE for the division of the kingdom when working backwards from the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE. According to newer chronologists such as Gershon Galil and Kenneth Kitchen, however, the values are 931 BCE for the beginning of the coregency and 915/914 BCE for Rehoboam's death. One episode which the Bible places during the reign of Rehoboam, and which is confirmed by the records from the Bubastite Portal in Karnak and another archaeological find (without the specific mention of the name Rehoboam), is the Egyptian invasion of Judea by the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I, who is identified by many with the biblical King Shishak. One of the most difficult issues in identifying Shishak with Shoshenq I is the biblical statement that "King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He seized the treasures of the Lord's temple and the royal palace", making this Shoshenq's biggest prize, whereas the Bubastite Portal lists do not include Jerusalem or any city from central Judea among the surviving names in the list of Shoshenq's conquests. In popular culture Rehoboam is portrayed by Gino Leurini in The Queen of Sheba (1952) and by Dexter Fletcher in Solomon (1997). In Season 3 of the HBO show Westworld, the artificial intelligence entity dictating the fate of humans through algorithmic analysis is named “Rehoboam.” It is the successor to a prior version called “Solomon” (which was the successor to “David.”) Like the historical Rehoboam, this AI version coincided with the demise of the rule of its line. References 10th-century BC Kings of Judah Solomon 970s BC births 910s BC deaths Jewish royalty Dethroned monarchs