Teko´a, a city south of Bethlehem, on the borders of the desert to which it gave name, and noted as the residence of 'the wise woman' who interceded for Absalom; as one of the towns fortified by Rehoboam; and as the birthplace of the prophet Amos (;;;; ). The site has long been known; it lies six miles south of Bethlehem, on an elevated hill, not steep, but broad at the top, and covered with ruins to the extent of four or five acres. The site commands extensive prospects, and towards the east is bounded only by the level mountains of Moab. Before and during the Crusades Tekoa was well inhabited by Christians; but in A.D. 1138 it was sacked by a party of Turks from beyond the Jordan, and nothing further is known of it till the seventeenth century, when it lay desolate, as it has ever since done.