THECUA (Heb. Tēqōā; Septuagint Θεκώ and Θεκούς). - A city of Palestine in the tribe of Judah (Josh. 16:60 Gk.; 1 Chron. 2:24; 4:5) situated toward the desert of Engedi (2 Chron. 20:20), fortified by Rehoboam (ibid. 11:6), birthplace of the prophet Amos (Am. 1:1). Repopulated after the exile, it collaborated in the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:5, 27). In the desert of T. near the spring of Asphar (Hirbet ez-Zafan), Jonathan and Simon Maccabeus gathered with their fighting men to escape the snares of Bacchides (1 Macc. 9:33).

From the Greek and Latin texts of the Onomasticon (86, 13; 98, 17) it appears that T. was 12 miles from Jerusalem, corresponding therefore to the hill 850 m. high that still bears the name Teqū' or Teqū'ah, 18 km. south of Jerusalem. Among the remains of the ruins one notices fragments of architecture and an octagonal baptistery, belonging to the church of the place, dedicated to the prophet Amos. Various cisterns, silos and tombs hewn in the rock are to be seen there. In the Middle Ages the Jews used to visit, in one of those caves, the tomb of Amos.

Donato Baldi

@incollection{ec12_thecua_ebr_teqoa_settanta_thek, author = {Baldi, Donato}, title = {Thecua (Ebr. TĒQŌĀ; Settanta ΘΕΚΩ͂ e ΘΕΚΟΥ͂Σ)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {43}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/thecua-ebr-teqoa-settanta-theko-e-thekous} }

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