THECUA (Heb. Tēqōā; Septuagint Θεκῶ and Θεκοῦς). - A city of Palestine in the tribe of Judah (Ios. 16, 60 gr.; I Par. 2, 24; 4, 5), situated toward the desert of Engaddi (II Par. 20, 20), fortified by Roboam (ibid. 11, 6), and the homeland of the prophet Amos (Am. 1, 1). Repopulated after the exile, it contributed to the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 3, 5, 27). In the desert of T., near the fountain of Asphar (Hirbet ez-Zafan), Ionathan and Simone Maccabees gathered with their fighters in order to escape the snares of Bacchide (I Mach. 9, 33).
From the Greek and Latin texts of the Onomasticon (86, 13; 98, 17), it appears that T. was 12 miles from Jerusalem, and thus corresponds to the hill 850 m. high which still bears the name Teqū' or Teqū'ah, 18 km. south of Jerusalem. Among the remains of the ruins are fragments of architecture and an octagonal baptistery, belonging to the local church dedicated to the prophet Amos. There are also several cisterns, silos, and tombs cut into the rock. In the Middle Ages the Jews visited, in one of those caves, the tomb of Amos. Donato Baldi