Culture: Amalickiah’s next step, marriage to the queen, is an important element of his strategy. Although I have argued for his apparent claim to kingship, it would not have elevated him above the king’s successors by itself. The marriage constitutes a step to place him in the ruling lineage of the city of Nephi. The army at his back was a powerful enabler, but the queen was the legitimizer.
This process also occurs later during the Classic Maya period. According to monument inscriptions, two rulers in Tikal, beginning in A.D. 511, apparently derived their right to rule from their association with a woman who has been dubbed the Lady of Tikal. It was typical for victorious kings to take wives from the family of the defeated ruler to cement the new relationship. This story thus represents what will become standard practice in Mesoamerica by persuading the wife of the former king to accept him as her husband. With this link to the prior legitimate rule, he more firmly established his grip on the kingship in Nephi.