Abstract

An analysis of the Delos capital makes it possible to outline a method of argumentation (based on the traces preserved on the surface of the eye) in favour of hypotheses about the methods of tracing the external and internal spirals. Based on these methods, an attempt has also been made to identify the Vitruvian indications. We have analysed the integration of the spiral in the composition of the whole facade of several Hellenistic Ionic capitals (from Halicarnassus, Priene, Magnesia on the Meander, Didymes, Sardis and Delos) and a fortiori of the capital described by Vitruvius, having in view the width (D), the height of the volute (G), the height of the interior tangent of the volute (N) and the secondary diagonal (Ds). The constant, so to speak, utilisation was established of pentagons as important elements of the geometrical support in the architectural composition. Thus, the presence of a "common denominator" in the internal geometry of these capitals argues strongly in favour of a research procedure on the internal — geometrical — support of the composition of Ionic capitals.