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Zev Radovan

Grand architecture characterized royal structures in eighth-century B.C.E. Jerusalem, Samaria, Hazor and Megiddo. This finely crafted proto-Aeolic capital exemplifies the monumental masonry of that time, although it dates to the tenth century B.C.E. Featuring volutes based on a stylized palm-tree motif, the proto-Aeolic capital may be the type of capital decorated with “lilywork” that the Bible says topped the columns that stood at the entrance to Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 7:19, 22). Originally a style borrowed from Phoenicia: the proto-Aeolic capital, also caned “proto-Ionic,” may, in turn, have inspired the Aeolic and Ionic capitals of Greek architecture.