Exploring the Garden of Uzza 3 burial “in the garden of his house in the Garden of Uzza” in 2 Kgs 21,18 functions as a part of the biblical writer’s damning judgement of Manasseh, signalling the king’s post-mortem displacement from his ancestral line (7). Moreover, it is clear that the ideological importance of royal burials was also perceived by other tradents of the biblical traditions. As many commentators have observed, the Chronicler appears to tailor his burial notices to suit his theological appraisal of each monarch (8). Thus the non-specification of a burial place for the favoured king Hezekiah in 2 Kgs 20,21 is remedied in 2 Chr 32,33 with a detailed description of Hezekiah’s honourable burial alongside his Davidic ancestors. In view of this theological tendency, it is notable that the Chronicler’s rehabilitated Manasseh is not given a garden burial, but is simply buried wtyb, “in his house” (33,20), whilst the burial of the unrepentant Amon is not even mentioned (33,25). Similarly, the absence of a burial notice for Jehoiakim in 2 Kgs 24,6 appears to be rectified in a tradition reflected in Greek versions of the biblical regnal accounts, in which it is claimed that the sinful king Jehoiakim was buried in the khpw Oza, “Garden of Oza” (4 Kgdms Lucianic 24,6) or a place named Γανοζα, “Ganoza” (2 Par 36,8); the former appears to be a translation and the latter a transliteration of the designation az[ ˆg, “Garden of Uzza”. This tradition concerning Jehoiakim’s burial may have arisen in direct response to the claim reflected in MT 2 Kgs 24,6 that he “slept with his ancestors”, a formulaic expression argued by many to refer to actual burial in an ancestral tomb or grave (9), and perhaps here taken to indicate the royal burial place last specified in the books of Kings, the Garden of Uzza. However, it is equally likely that the tradition locating Jehoiakim’s burial in the Garden of Uzza alongside the reprobates Manasseh and Amon served to compound his villainous biblical portrayal in assigning him a disreputable grave away from (7) F. STAVRAKOPOULOU, King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice. Biblical Distortions of Historical Realities (BZAW 338; Berlin – New York 2004) 44-45. (8) E.g., E. BLOCH-SMITH, Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs about the Dead (JSOT/ASORMS 7/JSOTSS 123; Sheffield 1992) 118-119; H.G.M. WILLIAMSON, 1 & 2 Chronicles (NCB; London 1982) 388. (9) E.g., G.R. DRIVER, “Plurisma Mortis Image”, Studies and Essays in Honor of Abraham A. Neuman (eds. M. BEN-HORIN – B.D. WEINRYB – S. ZEITLIN) (Leiden 1962) 128-143, esp. 141; BLOCH-SMITH, Judahite Burial Practices, 110; cf. L. WÄCHTER, Der Tod im Alten Testament (Arbeiten zur Theologie II/8; Stuttgart 1967) 71-72; ILLMAN, Old Testament Formulas, 44-47.