Docus
Do'cus (Δώκ v.r. Δωήκ; Vulg. Doch; Syr. Doak), a "little hold" (τὸ ὀχυρωμάτιον; Vulg. munitiunculum), near Jericho (1 Macc. 16:15; compare verse 14), built by Ptolemaeus, the son of Abubus, and in which he entertained and murdered his father-in-law, Simon Maccabaeus, with his two sons. By Josephus (Ant. 13:8,1; War, 1:2, 3) it is called Dagon (Δαγών), and is said to have been "one of the fortresses (ἐρυμάτων) above Jericho." The word is probably the Aramaean Dakeka, a watch- tower (Grimm, Exeg. Handb. in loc.). The name still remains in the neighborhood, attached to the copious and excellent springs of Ain-Dûk, which burst forth in the Wady Nawa'imeh, at the foot of the mountain of Quarantania (Kuruntul), about four miles N.W. of Jericho (Robinson, Res. 2:309). Above the springs are traces of ancient foundations, which may be those of Ptolemy's castle, but more probably of that of the Templars, one of whose stations this was (see Münter, Statutenb. der Ord. des Tempelh. 1:419). It stood as late as the latter end of the 13th century, when it was visited by Brocardus, who calls it Dooch (Descr. Terrce Sanctae, chapter 7, page 178, ed. Bonfrere in Onomast.).
