ABSTRACT
Jacob ‘dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it; (Genesis 28:12). This is what is depicted in the icon of The Heavenly or Celestial Ladder, the last ‘wonderful thing’ which a visitor to the Byzantium 33-–1453 exhibition at the Royal Academy would have seen before leaving, except, on the Sinai ladder there are not only angels depicted, but also their counterparts, the figures of devils (Fig. 10.1).
