Arrangement 22: Kings of Samaria
Notes
A series of 19 roundels, often set out in a straight horizontal line, depicting 18 northern kings of Israel, that is, of the non-Judaean kingdom based in Samaria, and one wife. Dimensions: 18 wide by 2 tall. Liber Genealogus counterpart: section 37.
The plots represent (from top) the Plutei, Roda, Gerona Beatus and Foigny bible manuscripts.
Commentary
This section was indubitably put in the diagram for chronographical purposes, and it may have originally been marked up with year-spans, as we find in the Liber Genealogus. The consistent omission of Omri and his 12 years (1 Kings 16:21) from all the old recensions, and apparently from the archetype, is a peculiarity which requires further investigation. This would have evidently led to a variant calculation of the date when the Northern Kingdom collapsed.
A single wife, Jezebel (marked J) is included in this series. In all recensions of the diagram and the Liber Genealogus, Jehosheba (Iosebe) daughter of Jehoram of Judah is attached to the northern line, although 2 Kings 11:2 indicates she should be considered Judaean. She is not included in this part of the reconstruction.
The peculiar compression in the Roda manuscript seems to have been adopted to save space and does not appear to reflect any feature of the archtype. Gerona is included for exemplary reasons only, to show the chaos in which this section is presented in many of the manuscripts.
Tibni (Aben, marked A above) is unlikely to have been included in the archetype, since his rule was for only a matter of weeks, not a complete year, and that time was not relevant to the calculation of the overall Northern era. There is no Aben in the Liber Genealogus G. In the revised Zeta/Iota manuscript group, he is replaced by Omri (O).
A couple of interlopers are often mistakenly attached to this line of roundels at the end: two brothers who were the last kings of Judah. These and Jehosheba are marked out on the plots with dotted lines.
The reconstruction above has been expanded to show the wider context of the Samaria section. It is assumed that no attempt was made to scale the two kingdoms to one another (the northern one was destroyed earlier than the southern one), but rather that they were shown as parallel blocks of equal length, as marked by the red brace above.
The 18 reigns in the diagram in its archetypal form are listed below:
| Great Stemma | Liber Genealogus | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ieroboam filius Nadab | Hieroboam filium Nabath | |
| 2 | Nadab filius Baas [sic] | Hieroboam genuit Nadab et regnavit annis duobus | Correctly son of Jeroboam: see 1 Kings 15:25 |
| 3 | Baas filius Acia | Basaa filius Achia et regnavit annis XXIIII | |
| 4 | Ela(s) filius Baas | Ela filius Basaa regnavit annis duobus | |
| 5 | Zambri filius Baas | Post Ea regnavit Zambri | LXX and LG do not state any parentage for Zimri, so Baas is likely to be an editorial addition |
| Aben filius Gona [in isolation] | [omitted] | Probably an early, gloss-like editorial addition alongside the line. Tibni (LXX: Thamni) led a coup (see note above) | |
| [omitted] | [omitted] | Omri is always omitted. This name is only emended back into the series in the Saint-Sever ("Amri") and in the Zeta/Iota Stemma (O above) | |
| 6 | Acab filius Zambri | genuit Agab | Usually reckoned the son of Omri; Jezebel is marked as his wife. |
| 7 | Ochozias filius Acab (Ococies filius Agat) | genuit Ochoziam | |
| 8 | Ioram filius Acab (Agat) | alius filius Achab nomine Ioram regnavit annis XII | |
| 9 | Ieu filius Namesi | regnavit Ieu filius Manasse annis XXVIII | |
| 10 | Iocas filius Ie(h)u | Huic Ieu successit Ioachas filius eius regnavit annis decem et septem | |
| 11 | Ioas filius Iocas | Ioachas genuit Ioas et regnavit annis sedecim | |
| 12 | Hieroboam filius Io(h)as | Ioas genuit Hieroboam et regnavit annis XII | |
| 13 | Zacharias filius I(h)ieroboam | Hieroboam genuit Zacchariam et regnavit mensibus sex | |
| 14 | Sella filius (T/R)abisa | Post hunc regnavit Sellem filius Narmin mense uno | |
| 15 | Mane filius G/Saddi | Post hunc Maneae filius Gaddi regnavit annis decem | |
| 16 | Facia filius Mane | Manee genuit Faciae et regnavit annis duobus | |
| 17 | Faciee filius Romelie | Hunc successit Faciae filius Romeliae et regnavit annis XX duobus | |
| 18 | Osee filius Dara | Post Faceae filium Romeliae regnavit Oseae an. VIIII | LXX calls him Hosee son of Ela |
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The Great Stemma: A Graphic
History in the Fifth Century by Jean-Baptiste
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