The Kingdom of Judah was an Iron Age kingdom of the Southern Levant. The Hebrew Bible depicts it as the successor to the United Monarchy, a term denoting the Kingdom of Israel under biblical kings Saul and Solomon and covering the territory of two historical kingdoms and Israel; such scholars believe that, prior to this era, the kingdom was no more than a small tribal entity, limited to Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings. In the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE, the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited to small rural settlements, most of them unfortified. Jerusalem, the kingdom's capital did not emerge as a significant administrative center until the end of the 8th century. In the 7th century its population increased prospering under Assyrian vassalage, but in 605 the Assyrian Empire was defeated, the ensuing competition between the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the Eastern Mediterranean led to the destruction of the kingdom in a series of campaigns between 597 and 582, the deportation of the elite of the community, the incorporation of Judah into a province of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

The legendary history of David and Solomon in the 10th century BCE tells little about the origins of Judah. There is no archaeological evidence of an extensive, powerful Kingdom of Judah before the late 8th century BCE. Prior to this the kingdom was no more than a small tribal entity, limited to Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings; the status of Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE is a major subject of debate. The oldest part of Jerusalem and its original urban core is the City of David, which does not show evidence of significant Israelite residential activity until the 9th century. However, unique administrative structures such as the Stepped Stone Structure and the Large Stone Structure, which formed one structure, contain material culture dated to Iron I. On account of the apparent lack of settlement activity in the 10th century BCE, Israel Finkelstein argues that Jerusalem in that century was a small country village in the Judean hills, not a national capital, Ussishkin argues that the city was uninhabited.

Amihai Mazar contends that if the Iron I/Iron IIa dating of administrative structures in the City of David are correct, "Jerusalem was a rather small town with a mighty citadel, which could have been a center of a substantial regional polity."A collection of military orders found in the ruins of a military fortress in the Negev dating to the period of the Kingdom of Judah indicates widespread literacy, given that based on the inscriptions, the ability to read and write extended throughout the chain of command, from commanders to petty officers. According to Professor Eliezer Piasetsky, who participated in analyzing the texts, "Literacy existed at all levels of the administrative and priestly systems of Judah. Reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite." This indicates the presence of a substantial educational infrastructure in Judah at the time. According to the Hebrew Bible, the kingdom of Judah resulted from the break-up of the United Kingdom of Israel after the northern tribes refused to accept Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, as their king.

At first, only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David, but soon after the tribe of Benjamin joined Judah. The two kingdoms, Judah in the south and Israel in the north, coexisted uneasily after the split until the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by Assyria in c. 722/721. The major theme of the Hebrew Bible's narrative is the loyalty of Judah, its kings, to Yahweh, which it states is the God of Israel. Accordingly, all the kings of Israel and many of the kings of Judah were "bad", which in terms of Biblical narrative means that they failed to enforce monotheism. Of the "good" kings, Hezekiah is noted for his efforts at stamping out idolatry, but his successors, Manasseh of Judah and Amon, revived idolatry, drawing down on the kingdom the anger of Yahweh. King Josiah returned to the worship of Yahweh alone, but his efforts were too late and Israel's unfaithfulness caused God to permit the kingdom's destruction by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the Siege of Jerusalem; however it is now well established among academic scholars that the Books of Kings is not an accurate reflection of religious views in either Judah or Israel during this period.

For the first sixty years, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over the northern kingdom, there was perpetual war between them. Israel and Judah were in a state of war throughout Rehoboam's seventeen-year reign. Rehoboam built elaborate strongholds, along with fortified cities. In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, pharaoh of Egypt, brought a huge army and took many cities. In the sack of Jerusalem, Rehoboam gave them all of the treasures out of the te

Charles Francis Avila was an electrical engineer and a Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee of the Yankee Atomic Electric Company. Charles Francis Avila was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, 17 September 1906, his facility for resolving insoluble problems and his vigorous leadership have contributed much to the electrical power industry. There is much in the tradition of Thomas A. Edison in the way he has worked, for Avila has the same far-reaching curiosity, the same unflagging interest in basic principles and the same unremitting perseverance, his early penchant for an engineering career became evident during his pre-high school days through his interest in the care and refinishing of bicycles. He was recognized as a leader by and was a consultant to his boyhood friends in the numerous areas of model building and mechanical and electrical gadgetry. In high school be was most interested in the science courses and became an enthusiastic builder of amateur radio equipment, his limited budget made him aware of the economic aspects of his projects.

This combination of technological interest and economics led him to enter an integrated five-year program in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration at Harvard University from which be was graduated in 1929 with the bachelor's degree. After graduation he entered the employ of the Boston Edison Company. During these years he took the initiative in analyzing and solving the many problems inherent in the operation of the utility system, his contributions included a method of laying a half-mile length of cable across a lake without a barge to carry the reel. From this work he derived formulas whereby the combined cost of testing and the cost of outages were made a minimum. Avila designed tanks for transformers applying a zinc spray of bituminous coating to prevent their deterioration when salt water was present, he devised. He was a pioneer in the use of neoprene-jacketed cables to eliminate stray currents and corrosion by electrolysis, he engineered the installation of the first high voltage aluminum conductor cable in this country.

As Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee of the Yankee Atomic Electric Company and as a Director of the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, he has done much to develop atomic power in New England. Avila's method of dealing with cable failures led to his becoming a leading authority on cable design and operation; when a failure occurred, he was soon at the scene tracing the cause and minutely dissecting the faulty section to determine the source of failure. From these analyses, with the assistance of the engineers of cable companies, notable improvements in cable manufacture were developed. Avila's interests were not confined to electrical engineering. While at Harvard he read Ritchey's treatise on optics and telescopes and before long began grinding and mounting optical lenses which in turn led to the construction of a 6-inch telescope of excellent precision in definition and mounting, his enthusiasm influenced others and resulted in the formation of The Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, a club which continues today.

This club, with the assistance of Avila's expertise in optics and with the collaboration of James G. Baker of the Harvard Optical Research Laboratory and Harlow Shapley, worked on the design of an aerial camera for the National Defense Research Committee. Avila did the entire engineering work on the camera with automatic focusing for altitudes up to flying limits and self-adjustments for ground speed and distance, air density and plane rocking; this camera was used extensively in the Pacific and Korean Wars and is in use today for tracking missiles and satellites. Avila advanced through a series of positions with the Boston Edison Company until in 1960 he became President and General Manager and, in 1967, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, he contributes generously of his time. He has played a large part in the conception and shaping of the New Boston and is a director of many civic and business organizations including the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the John Hancock and Liberty Mutual Insurance Companies, the National Shawmut Bank of Boston, the Raytheon Company, the New England Council.

He has made considerable contributions to the field of education. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Harvard Engineers and Scientists, he maintains close contact with the educational program of his Alma Mater; as a member of the Corporation and a Trustee of Northeastern University, he was instrumental in establishing the Power System Engineering Program, a five-year course sponsored by local utilities, designed to stimulate the interests of electrical engineering students in power engineering. Avila is a Fellow of the IEEE, he was President of the Edison Electric Institute and he a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies. He has served on numerous committees of the IEEE and of the EEI, he received the honorary LL. D. degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1963. He received the 1968 IEEE Edison Medal.

Tom Williamson is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League. He made his AFL debut for the Carlton Football Club in the club's Round 3 clash with Essendon, it was a game where Williamson showed poise, despite the terrible weather at the MCG. In 2016 Williamson played TAC Cup football with North Ballarat. At the draft combine that year he scored well in fitness indicators including placing first in the agility test and finishing second in the 3 km time trial. Williamson was drafted by Carlton with the club's fifth selection and the sixty-first overall in the 2016 national draft, he made his AFL debut in round 3 of the 2017 season in the fifteen point victory against Essendon at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He recorded five tackles for the match. After playing in 14 more games, Williamson finished the season with stat averages of 12 disposals, 3 marks, 2 tackles and 1 spoil, his 2018 season did not have the same level of success, after recovering from an injury in pre-season, Tom suffered back problems which sidelined him for the rest of the year.

With this, Tom was still able to earn a 2-year contract extension, signifying him as one of Carlton's long-term prospects. Tom Williamson's AFL Stats page on AFL.com.au Tom Williamson's profile on the official website of the Carlton Football Club Tom Williamson's playing statistics from AFL Tables