Edwin R. Thiele in The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (1951) concluded that two different methods for counting the years of a king's reign were used at different times and places. In the accession method, the year in which a king ascended to the throne was called his accession year, and the following year was the first year of that king's reign. In the non-accession method, the year of a king's accession is simply counted as the first year of his reign. According to Thiele, the Kingdom of Israel appears to have used the non-accession year method for counting years, while the Kingdom of Judah used the accession method until Athaliah seized power in Judah, when Israel's non-accession method appears to have been adopted in Judah. In addition, Thiele also concluded that Israel counted