The zone immediately outside this medallion, which is not quite an inch in width, is filled with a string of eight horses, all of them proceeding at a trot, and following each other to the right.
Over each horse two birds fly in the same direction.

The horses' tails are extraordinarily conventional, consisting of a stem with branches, and resembling a conventional palm branch.

Outside this zone there is an exterior and a wider one, which is bounded on its outer edge by a huge snake, whose scaly length describes an almost exact circle, excepting towards the tail, where there are some slight sinuosities.

This serpent, whose head reaches and a little passes the thin extremity of the tail, is "drawn," says M.Clermont-Ganneau, "with the hand of a master."[780] It has been compared[781] with the well-known Egyptian and Phoenician symbol for the {kosmos} or universe, which was a serpent with its tail in its mouth.

"Naturally," he continues,[782] "the outer zone by its very position offers the greatest room for development.