Scenes of Combat

These scenes are clearly symbolical in character and show the victory of virtue over evil.
On the east side of the capital two soldiers armed with sword and shield are shown battling against wild beasts, which resemble lions or dragons and represent the devil.
On the south side two figures stand opposite each other in a symmetrical composition; they are shown tearing apart by the jaws the lion below them; an image powerfully reminiscent of Samson tearing a lion asunder as one tears a kid (Judges 14:6).
On the west side two pairs of figures are shown in combat against each other: to the left two peasants, to the right two wrestlers. In Spanish Romanesque sculpture such scenes of combat are a metaphor of discord or dissension.
The north side of the capital is more difficult to decipher. It shows one figure and two lions, in a composition familiar to us from representations of the ascension into heaven of Alexander the Great. As personified vices pride and arrogance are often represented in the form of griffons and winged beings.
The impost plate is decorated with large and simple rosettes; either three or four rosettes per side depending on the width of the side of the capital in question.

Combat weapon