Volute Capitals Menu

Joel Drinkard, Jr. Professor of Old Testament  and Archaeology Southern Baptist  Theological Seminary

Shiloh's Typology

While several previous studies have included a discussion of the volute capital, only one major study has been made of the volute capitals found in Israel and Jordan, that of Yigael Shiloh, written as his dissertation in 1975 and published in 1979 as The Proto-Aeolic Capital and Israelite Ashlar Masonry.⁶ Shiloh catalogued thirty-four examples of volute capitals, thirty-three from Israel and one from Jordan. Shiloh's catalogue includes: two capitals from Hazor, thirteen capitals from Megiddo, seven from Samaria, ten from Ramat Rahel, one from Jerusalem (actually found in two parts), and one from Mudaybi^c in Jordan. In this catalogue he includes three "unfinished" capitals (i.e. ones with a rough shape, but no features cut on the face), and one miniature capital that clearly had no architectural use. Thus his actual total of full-sized incised capitals is thirty. From capitals found since Shiloh's monograph was written, at least thirty-nine volute capitals are currently known. 

Shiloh has suggested a five-fold typology for the capitals. He considers his type A as the archetype or prototype for all the volute capitals from Palestine. It certainly has most of the major features characteristic of these capitals: a central triangle flanked with two volutes and most examples having an abacus on top. The apex of the central triangle reaches up to the abacus. Each volute has an upper and lower leaf protruding from it. And the overall proportions of the capital are approximately 1:2, height to length. Shiloh considered this capital type top be the earliest of his typology. Shiloh has 14 examples in this type. [Three of these capitals, M-9, M-10, and M-12, are double-faced capitals.] 

Type B has a much flatter profile, with proportions approximately 1:4. The central triangle is much narrower, and lacks a base. The volutes are much wider, and the capital lacks an abacus. Only one capital from Megiddo belongs to this type. At least one reconstruction of this capital has suggested it is only the top of a two-stone capital, the lower stone of which would complete the triangle. 

Shiloh's Type C, represented only by a single half of a capital, has the apex of the central triangle end at the juncture of the upper spiral of the two volutes. The proportions are again approximately 1:2. The abacus is more prominent than in Type A. The two sides of the triangle appear to form the outer spiral of the opposite volute. Shiloh also shows an additional concentric circle in the center of the two volutes. Above the central triangle are vertical lines Shiloh interprets as a trefoil. It appears that there is only one major distinction in type A and Type C: the shape and placement of the central triangle. Type D lacks the central triangle and the abacus. The two volutes meet at the center of the base and are therefore much taller in proportion to other volutes. In place of the triangle there is an oval or bud-shaped element that emerges from behind the volute and reaches to the top of the capital. The proportions are again approximately 1:2. It is almost as though the volutes are in front of the central triangle/bud and cover much of it in this type. There are two examples of this type, both from Hazor. One of the Hazor capitals has a double face.

Type E is the one that most concerns us. It includes many of the best-preserved examples, as well as the most elaborate. Because it is the most developed form stylistically, it may well be the latest type. This type is characterized by a broader base for the central triangle, but lacks a base line. The triangle is characterized by three outlines on the sides. The abacus is broad and often has a notch in the middle. The lower leaves are prominent. The center of the volute has a concentric circle. Double rows of concentric circles are found in the space between the apex of the triangle and the top of the volutes. Shiloh lists as examples of this type the capitals from Jerusalem, Ramat Rahel, and Mudaybi^c. By Shiloh's count there are 12 examples of this type: 10 from Ramat Rahel, one from Jerusalem and one from Mudaybi^c. One of the Ramat Rahel capitals is double-faced. (Photo 11 above is from Mudaybi^c; it, and all the Mudaybi^c examples, has two rather than three sets of triangle sides.)

• The volute capitals of Mudaybi^c

• Location and Function of the Mudaybi^c Volute Capitals

• Shiloh's Typology

• Recently found Volute Capitals

• Two Previously Unpublished Volute Capital Fragments

• Typology Revisited and Summary/Conclusion