Rehoboam (Hebrew:רחבעם Rehav'am, he who enlarges the people) (1016-r.975-958 BC by Ussher or 971-r.930-913 BC by Thiele) was the immediate successor of Solomon. He inherited his throne at the age of forty-one. He is best known as the king under whom the United Kingdom of Israel split into its Northern and Southern halves; he continued as king of the Southern for seventeen years. The authors of the Books II Kings and II Chronicles both refer to him as an "evil-doing" king.