A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Manti, City of

MANTI, CITY OF. The chief city of the land of Manti. It was situated near the headwaters of the Sidon, and was the most southerly city of importance in that region. Being an outlying settlement of the Nephites, though strongly fortified, it suffered greatly by the invasions of the Lamanites. In the great war, inaugurated by Amalickiah, it was captured by the Lamanites (some time before B. C. 66), and by them converted into an important base for their operations against the Nephites, both east and west.* In B. C. 63, Gid and Teomner, two Nephite generals, recaptured it by stratagem; and Helaman took his Ammonite and other troops there and made it his headquarters. It was not again captured by the Lamanites during that long and disastrous war. In later Lamanite invasions it undoubtedly fell, more than once, into their hands, as it was in the direct line of the course they generally took when entering the Nephite territory.