The outside columns were stone columns carved in the shape of dragons. I have a growing suspicion that the Chinese dragons originally came from the Satan in the form of the snake in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:14 describes the serpent as being cursed by crawling on the ground. Sure enough, snakes crawl on the ground. Everything else on the ground has legs, though; if you add legs to a snake you get something that looks like a Chinese dragon. The dragon is considered one of the high deities by the Chinese, and Satan is described as the highest of angels, just below God. Finally, the Chinese dragons are usually depicted with a flaming ball, because it is the ball that gives them the power of flight. Ezekiel 1:15-21 describes cherubim as having a wheel that was separate from the creature, but part of it. Since Satan is an angel, it would not be unreasonable to expect that he has a wheel, too. (I suspect that the ball in the dragon’s mouth here is the canonical ball, but I am not sure)