1 Kings 7:16

And he made two chapiters [or capitals] of molten [Heb. poured ] brass, to put upon the tops [Heb. heads ] of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits [In 2 Kings 25:17 the height is given as three cubits; but this is obviously a clerical error. See 2 Chronicles 3:15 ; Jeremiah 52:22 . A much more important question is whether the chapiter ( כֹתֶרֶת same word, akin to כֶתֶר , crown) of four cubits mentioned in Jeremiah 52:19 is to be understood as a part of this chapiter, or something additional and superposed, the entablature, e.g. The former appears the more probable. See note on Jeremiah 52:19 . But it is not a fatal objection to the latter view that it would make the entire chapiter, or both members, nine cubits high; no less, that is, than one-half the length of the shaft. No doubt to modern ideas this appears wholly disproportionate; but a double chapiter, bearing the same proportion to the shaft, is found in some of the buildings of Persepolis. From the expression of verses 41, 42, "the bowls of the chapiters" (cf. 2 Chronicles 4:12 , 2 Chronicles 4:13 ; Jeremiah 52:23 ), and the word "belly" ( בֶּטֶן ) in Jeremiah 52:20 , we gather that the chapiters were bowl shaped, or bellied out something like the so called "cushion capital" in Norman architecture.