Amlici was a Nephite who, in the fifth year of the reign of the judges (around 87 B.C.), sought to be made king over the people. He is described as a cunning man, wise as to the wisdom of the world, and was after the order of the man who slew Gideon — Nehor, whose order practiced priestcraft (Alma 2:1).
By his cunning Amlici drew away many followers, and they began to establish him as king. Because Nephite law required such matters to be settled by the voice of the people, the question was put to a vote. The voice of the people came against Amlici, and he was not made king; the church feared that as a wicked man he intended to deprive them of their rights and to destroy the church of God (Alma 2:4, 2:7). Refusing the outcome, Amlici and his followers gathered and consecrated him their king. They were called Amlicites, and the rest were called Nephites (Alma 2:9, 2:11).
Amlici commanded his people to take up arms against the Nephites, and the Amlicites made war on them at the hill Amnihu, east of the river Sidon. Alma the Younger, then chief judge and governor, led the Nephite armies against them. In the fighting Alma met Amlici face to face, cried to the Lord to spare his life, and slew him with the sword (Alma 2:29, 2:30, 2:31). The Amlicites had joined a host of Lamanites; after the battles the dead were so many they were not numbered, and the surviving Nephites buried them and returned to their lands (Alma 3:1).
The Amlicites had distinguished themselves from the Nephites by marking themselves with red in their foreheads after the manner of the Lamanites (Alma 3:4, 3:13). Mormon notes that they did not know they were fulfilling the words of God when they did so: they had come out in open rebellion against God, and it was therefore expedient that the curse should fall upon them (Alma 3:18).