Although the images in these panels seem more “picture-like,” the figures are still arranged in a diagrammatic fashion, especially in the final two panels. In the first panel, the Egyptian Pharaoh (Akhnaton, about 1351-1334 B.C.E.) kneels in worship to the sun, the god Aton. The sun’s rays shine down over the Pharaoh, casting a long shadow, a representation of the ubiquitous reach of the god’s power. These rays signify the universalist aspect of Akhnaton’s monotheism; his god is a universal god, whose rays can be seen and felt all over the (known) world. This is reflected in the curved surface upon which the Pharaoh stands, a representation of the globe, or at least a substantial part of it. Akhnaton’s gestures are a variation on the priest motif found in previous images: one hand reaches skyward while the other is grounded in this world, signifying the Pharaoh’s role as mediator between the cosmic and the mundane. Note that Akhnaton stands alone in this image; Atonism was Akhnaton’s religion, which lasted only during his reign. It was not widely accepted and was suppressed by the priesthood upon his death.

In the second panel, the Hebrew god Yahweh is depicted in human form. This might seem anachronistic (as the ancient Hebrews had no human representation of their god), but in the context of the drawing is meant to show that Yahweh is an active, physical god. (He even appears as a pillar of fire below.) He holds a sword, emphasizing his role as a national war god, as well as the tablet signifying his divine law, the covenant with his chosen people. Unlike the first panel, his rays do not emanate throughout the whole world, suggesting that his influence is not universal but local and particular, confined only to the Hebrews. They wander through the desert as depicted below, casting shadows deriving either from Yahweh or from the desert sun.

In the third panel, Zoroaster (Zarathustra) raises his arms skyward toward Ahura Mazda. Note that Zoroaster does not hold one hand aloft and one pointed downward, as priests have done in previous diagrams. This suggests a simpler, less exalted role for Zoroaster than as a divine mediator. Ahura Mazda is not represented as a physical object, like the sun, nor embodied in human form, like the early representation of Yahweh. Instead, “the father of Good Thought” is represented as a word, an abstraction, a force whose only visual embodiment are the rays that cast their shadows over the believers below. Those believers stand on a representation of the globe; the rays and the globe together, as with the first panel, suggest that this is a universal religion. These believers are represented as farmers and herders, the social classes from which the earliest adherents of the religion came. More significantly, these figures show the more universal reach of the religion than the solitary figure of the Pharaoh or the tribal trek of the Hebrews. Between Ahura Mazda and humanity below, a cosmic struggle between Good and Evil is played out. A (largely Christian) image of the Final Judgement is shared with the next panel; the suggestion here is that the concept of a final day of reckoning migrated from Zoroastrian thought into Judaic thought.

The fourth panel is meant to contrast with the second panel, and show the evolution of Judaic monotheism. Where Yahweh is depicted as a physical presence in the second panel, here He is a transcendent abstraction, a word not unlike Ahura Mazda. Yahweh is now a universal rather than a particularist god, his rays cast its light not only upon the Jews but upon a representation of the globe. Note that idolaters bow in the shadow of a representation of a Near Eastern god; the shadows here suggest that the rays of Yahweh are blocked by the idol. At center are the Prophets, who erect the stance of mediators between cosmic and mundane. This image features the black and white clouds found in the previous panel; the suggestion here is that good and evil exist but do not actively clash as in the Zoroastrian image of the world.