Oculus

The central opening at the top of a dome, such as in the Pantheon at Roman. The term is also used for a small window that is circular or oval in shape, such as an oeil-de-boeuf window. A third meaning is a decorative and religious motif symbolizing an eye, consisting of paired circles or spirals, as on the Spanish symbolkeramik. The design was widespread in western Europe in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. It occurs in the Spanish Copper Age, for instance at Los Millares, and is also found in Ireland and northern Europe in the late Neolithic. The capital of every Ionic column features a characteristic pair of volutes, or spiral scrolls, at the center of each of which is an eye, or disk, is also known as an oculus.

A decorative motif found on pottery, usually incised, consisting of double circles or spirals, resembling a pair of eyes. It occurs in the Spanish Copper Age, for instance at Los Millares, and is also found in Ireland and northern Europe in the late Neolithic. Indeed similar motifs occur in many different contexts and too much significance should not be assigned to it: an earlier tendency to see in it a representation of a deity is not now widely followed.