LADDER . In ancient times ladders were used chiefly for scaling the walls of a besieged city, as frequently shown on the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments (Wilkinson, Anc. Egyp . i. 243; Layard, Nineveh , ii. 372). Although this use of them is probably implied in Proverbs 21:22 , scaling-ladders are first expressly mentioned in the time of the Maccabees ( 1Ma 5:30 ). See Fortification, §§ 3, 6.
Jacob’s ‘ladder’ (Genesis 28:12 ) seems to have been rather a ‘flight of stone steps, rising up to heaven’ (Driver, Com. in loc .).
A. R. S. Kennedy.