Daniel in the Lions’ Den, Annunciation to the Shepherds

Daniel sits in the pose of the orant, with raised hands on the broader north side of the double capital. He is flanked by two rampant lions. They turn their heads backward to look at the prophet and support their front paws on a tree that fills each corner. The ground of the double capital and the console block carry an inscription: DANIELE[M] M[ISERVNT IN] LACV[M] LEONIS (“Daniel was cast into the den of lions“, Dan 6:16); the word LEO (“lion”) is repeated to the right and left of the head of the two beasts.
On the broader south side of the double capital an angel holds a disk inscribed with a cross in his left hand. It is the signaculum dei, which identifies him as a messenger of God. The angel turns to one of the two shepherds with his flock consisting of an ass, cattle and goats (continuing on the narrower side). The other shepherd is shown standing on the west side between two leaping dogs. Caption-like inscriptions accompany this representation and identify the figures and the animals: ANG[E]LI (“angels”), PASTO[RE]S (“shepherds”), ASI[NVS] (“ass”) and BOVES (“cattle”). On the narrower east side: twice CABRAS (“goats”, once mirror-inverted). The inscription on the console block reads: SISVA (instead of silva: “wood”). On the other narrower side: PASTORES.
Daniel is the first prophet to announce the coming of the Messiah. In the Middle Ages the eruption of the angel sent by God into the lions’ den, its mouth closed by a stone, without breaking the seal, was interpreted as a prefiguration of the incarnation of Christ, which took place without the seal of Mary’s virginity being broken. That explains the combination of both scenes on one capital.

PASTO[RE]S ASI[NUS] ANG[E]LI LEONIS LACV[M] IN] M[ISERUNT DANIELE[M] inscription disk dog goat cattle ass angel shepherd lion Daniel BOVES CABRAS SISVA PASTORES