List of Themiclesian monarchs

The following is a near-complete list of all monarchs who have ruled as sovereigns of Themiclesia.

Pre-treaty

See also: Treaty of Five Kings

Tsjinh parriarchs

The Springs and Autumns of Six States, writting around the 4th century CE, provides a long list of known monarchs of all the states in Themiclesia during the Hexarchy. Though accepted as historical canon, they have been considerably revised by unearthed texts and historical research.

The Springs and Autumns provides a list of 32 "parriarchs" (徹先公), conventionally interpreted as leading figures in the lineage of the Tsjinh ruling house, but the first ten figures are usually considered mythological for several reasons. First, their names recaptulate the ten-member heavenly stem sequence in exact order, which stands in complete contrast with the 22 following names, where there are no sequences at all. Second, the Springs and Autumns state that they were ten brothers in a single generation, which also seems extremely unusual in light of reconstructed succession orders, which saw, at most, four sibilings reign after each other. Third, their names are never mentioned in the cyclical sacrifice oracles, which record the list of venerated parriarchs almost unerringly. Finally, anthropologists think the first ten rulers were imagined by later writers as a rationalization for the Tsjinh clan's original kinship structure, forgotten in later ages because it fell into disuse and was never written down.

From the figure of High Prjang′, the lineage becomes far less problematic. A considerable number of scholars think that High Prjang′ is the first historical figure in the Tsjinh lineage, though his whereabouts and activities "will almost certainly never be knonwn". Some sources date him to the 8th or 9th century BCE, though others believe that even an approximate date cannot be established, since his biological relationship with the succeeding members of the list is yet uncertain. The historical part of the lineage is reconstructed by comparison between oracular plates. In the 19th century, the veracity of the earlier part of the lineage was placed under question, despite their similarity to oracular charges to lists of ancestors. However, as more caches of oracular inscriptions were found, it was discovered that many lineages converge towards a common ancestry. For example:

Generations	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Lineage 1	P.rjang’	'Rjut	Njem	Têng	Krap	Kje	P.rjang’	'Rjut	K.rang	Têng
Lineage 2	P.rjang’	'Rjut	Njem	Têng	Krap	Kje	K.rang	Kwji'	P.rjang’	'Rjut
Lineage 3	P.rjang’	'Rjut	Njem	Têng	Krap	Kje	K.rang	Kwji'	P.rjang’	Sjin

In this case, lineages 1 and 2 would be said to converge at the sixth generation, and lineages 2 and 3 at the ninth, where the identity of their respective ancestors are considered too remote to be a sheer coincidence. The main lineage most similar to that recovered from historical documents is attested on over 54 separate instances, making the matter "virtually beyond question" in an age where there is very little evidence of mutual contact between diverging branches of the family, beyond a cultic context, or motivation to create a common ancestry. This conclusion is further buttressed by archaeological dating of the sites where these lineages are recovered.

Gen.	Epithet		Name		Reign	Bronze	Oracle	Texts	Oracular name		Consort(s)		Notes
1	Krap	甲				No	No	Yes					Considered mythical by historians
	'Rjut	乙				No	No	Yes
	P.rjang’	丙				No	No	Yes
	Têng	丁				No	No	Yes
	Mjet	戊				No	No	Yes
	Kje'	己				No	No	Yes
	K.rang	庚				No	No	Yes
	Sjin	辛				No	No	Yes
	Njem	壬				No	No	Yes
	Kwrji'	癸				No	No	Yes
2	P.rjang’	丙				No	Yes	Yes	High P.rjang’	高祖丙	Consort Krap	奭甲
3	'Rjut	乙				No	Yes	Yes	High 'Rjut	高祖乙
						No	Yes	No	Njem	祖壬
4	Têng	丁				No	Yes	Yes	High Têng	高祖丁
	Krap	甲				No	Yes	Yes	Krap	祖甲
						No	Yes	No	Former Kje'	先祖己
	P.rjang’	丙				No	Yes	Yes	2nd Prjang	二祖丙
5	'Rjut	乙	Kwje	宄	7th c. BCE (?)	Yes	Yes	Yes	'Rjut	祖乙
	K.rang	庚	Gjên	臣	6th c. BCE (?)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Former K.rang	先祖庚
6						No	Yes	No	Long Têng	延祖丁
7	Krap	甲				No	Yes	Yes	2nd Krap	二祖甲
						No	Yes	No	2nd Têng	二祖丁
	P.rjang’	丙				Yes	Yes	Yes	3rd P.rjang’	三祖丙
8						No	Yes	No	Sjin	祖辛
	P.rjang’	丙	Sngja	寫		Yes	Yes	Yes	4th Prjang	四祖丙
9	'Rjut	乙				No	Yes	Yes	3rd 'Rjut	三祖乙
10	K.rang	庚				No	Yes	Yes	Later K.rang	後祖庚
	Têng	丁	Grui	褱	4th c. BCE (?)	Yes	Yes	Yes	3rd Têng	三祖丁
11	Krap	甲	Ser	先	4th c. BCE (?)	Yes	Yes	Yes	3rd Krap	三祖甲
	Kje'	己	K.rjang	景	4th c. BCE (?)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Later Kje'	後祖己
12	P.rjang’	丙	Gw(r)et	滑		Yes	Yes	Yes	5th P.rjang’	五祖丙
13	'Rjut	乙	S(ts)rêng	生	short reign	No	Yes	Yes	4th 'Rjut	四祖乙
	P.rjang’	丙	Pêk	辟	295 – 260	Yes	Yes	Yes	6th Prjang	父丙

The Springs and Autumns begin to record events for Tsjinh state beginning in the reign of Pêk. The motivation of this historiographic change is still unclear, but it seems connected to a century of instability in the lineage due to changes to the succession laws.

See also

• Themiclesia