A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Ammonihah, Land of
AMMONIHAH, LAND OF. The country immediately surrounding the city of the same name. It lay between the river Sidon and the Pacific Ocean, but exactly where cannot be determined. It was called after a man named Ammonihah, who was the founder of the city. In the same region were Melek, Noah, and Aaron, and the great western wilderness. When Alma had made the three days' journey spoken of under head of Melek, he reached Ammonihah. From the text of the passage some conclude that Alma traveled northward from Melek, but to us it conveys the idea that the prophet journeyed three days westward along or near the northern boundary of that land. We are confirmed in this opinion by the statement made in another place regarding Ammonihah's proximity to that portion of the wilderness which ran along the sea shore (Alma xxii: 27). In Alma (xvi: 2), it is stated: The armies of the Lamanites had come in upon the wilderness side, into the borders of the land, even into the city of Ammonihah. If Ammonihah had been situated three days' journey north of Melek, we suggest that it could not have been near that portion of the wilderness which the Lamanites so easily reached without discovery; for a march due north would have taken them close to, or actually through the lands of Minon, Noah, Melek and Zarahemla, the most thickly populated portions of the country; or, to have avoided these, they must have taken a circuitous route of immense length and great danger. Then, when they attempted to retire, their retreat, owing to their great distance from Nephi, would have most assuredly been cut off, as was the case with the Lamanite general Coriantumr under these conditions.