Mulek (), according to the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as ''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi''. The book is one of ...

, was the only surviving son of

Zedekiah Zedekiah ( ; born Mattaniah; 618 BC – after 586 BC) was the twentieth and final King of Judah before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. After the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II deposed king Jec ...

, the last

King of Judah The Kings of Judah were the monarchs who ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Judah, which was formed in about 930 BC, according to the Hebrew Bible, when the United Kingdom of Israel split, with the people of the northern Kingdom of Israel rejecti ...

, after the Babylonian conquest of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The Book of Mormon states that after escaping from Judah, Mulek traveled to the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

and established a civilization there. The word ''Mulekite'', after Mulek, is commonly used to refer to his group. It is one of four groups (the others being the

Nephites In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites () are one of four groups (along with the Lamanites, Jaredites, and Mulekites) said to have settled in the ancient Americas. The term is used throughout the Book of Mormon to describe the religious, politi ...

, the Lamanites, and the

Jaredites The Jaredites () are one of four peoples (along with the Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites) that the Latter-day Saints believe settled in ancient America. The Book of Mormon (mainly its Book of Ether) describes the Jaredites as the descend ...

) described in the Book of Mormon as having settled in the ancient Americas, although the name ''Mulekites'' does not appear in the Book of Mormon itself.

Archaeological evidence The archaeological record is the body of physical (not written) evidence about the past. It is one of the core concepts in archaeology, the academic discipline concerned with documenting and interpreting the archaeological record. Archaeological t ...

for the existence of any of these groups has not been documented.

Mulek and his nation

According to the Book of Mormon, when Jerusalem was destroyed by

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

, during the reign of Zedekiah, all of the sons of Zedekiah were killed except Mulek. Along with "as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord," Mulek escaped into the wilderness, traveled "across the great waters" to the

, and founded a new nation. The people of Mulek established their capital at

Zarahemla Zarahemla () is a land in the Book of Mormon that for much of the narrative functions as the capital of the Nephites, their political and religious center. Zarahemla has been the namesake of multiple communities in the United States, has been a ...

, north of where Lehi and his people landed.

Encounter with Jaredites

The last surviving Jaredite, Coriantumr, encountered the Mulekites, who he lived with for several months before he died.

Encounter with Nephites

When the

Nephite In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites () are one of four groups (along with the Lamanites, Jaredites, and Mulekites) said to have settled in the ancient Americas. The term is used throughout the Book of Mormon to describe the religious, poli ...

s were commanded to leave their historic homeland of Lehi-Nephi to flee from the Lamanites, the exiled remnants discovered the city of

, to their north. The Book of Mormon records that the Mulekites spoke a language that was largely unintelligible to the Nephites. When taught the Nephite language, the Mulekites recounted their descent from Mulek, which was then recorded. The Mulekites had in their possession a stone that told the story of Coriantumr, a survivor of the Jaredites who had encountered the Mulekites and lived among them until his death. Much of the prior Mulekite history was lost because of their lack of records.

References

{{Portal bar, Latter-day Saints Book of Mormon people