The central and largest of all panels is composed of two scenes, one taking place on land, the other on the sea. Together they illustrate a beauty contest between Cassiopeia and the Nereids, daughters of Nereus, god of the waters. (…) The scene on the sea depicts the three most beautiful of Nereus’ fifty daughters: Thetis, Doris and Galatea. Beautiful and elegant in their dresses fluttering in the wind but angry and dissatisfied with the result of the competition, they ride away on the back of a friendly sea centaur Bythos, a personification of the depths of the sea, and a young triton Pontos, the surface of the sea. Bythos has crab pincers growing from his forehead while Pontos holds a rudder in his hand. A sad Eros riding a bull accompanies the Nereids. Zeus and Athena watch from above, greeting Cassiopeia with their outstretched hands. Representations of this particular story are extremely rare. At present only two similar but not identical pictures are known to exist, both on mosaics from Syria. Neither surpasses the Paphian example.