The term used for the last 'appearance' of Christ to the apostles after his Resurrection, when he was taken up to heaven in a cloud. But Christ's was not the only ascension to take visible form. The Virgin is shown in art being taken up to heaven, and likewise prophets and saints. Nor is the idea confined to Christian belief. Divinity was sometimes conferred on a mortal, such as Alexander the Great and the Roman emperors. They were depicted being received in heaven into the presence of the deity. Classical mythology contains several examples of mortals being similarly favored by the gods. Moreover, the cloud that sheltered a god from human sight was a familiar concept to the ancients. The Ascension of Christ occurred (Acts 1 :9–12), forty days after his Resurrection, as he was standing with the apostles on the Mount of Olives. 'As they watched, he was lifted up, and a cloud removed him from their sight. As he was going, and as they were gazing intently into the sky, all at once there stood beside them two men in white who said, "Men of Galilee, why stand there looking up into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken away from you up to heaven, will come in the same way as you have seen him go."' In the Byzantine and western churches in the middle ages the figure of the ascending Christ took different forms. In the hieratic art of the east it was obligatory for him to be portrayed full face; he is usually framed within the almond-shaped mandorla which may be borne by angels. The customary place for the image was the ceiling of the central cupola of the church. In Romanesque and Gothic art the figure was often in profile, as if it were climbing to heaven, usually framed in a mandorla, and in this form is often found on the west front of a church, typically on the tympanum of the main portal. A third form shows Christ literally disappearing into the cloud with only the feet visible below. All these versions are found in Renaissance painting. A complete representation of the 'Ascension' is divided into two parts, upper and lower, heaven and earth. In heaven tile figure of Christ forms the center-piece, his feet resting on a cloud, Surrounded by cherubim arranged in the shape of a mandorla. He sometimes holds the banner of the Resurrection, and makes the sign of benediction with the right hand. On either side, balancing the composition, may be angels, perhaps playing musical instruments. On earth the apostles stand gazing up in awe at the departing figure, or they kneel in prayer. They should at this time be eleven in number. The Virgin is generally with them, a symbol of the Mother Church which Christ left behind on earth. On either side of her may be seen St Peter, holding the keys, and St Paul, with his sword, symbols respectively of the Jews and the Gentiles to whom the Christian message was brought. The two angels dressed in white who appeared to the apostles may be present. In baroque art the formal composition of the Ascension is lost, the mandorla disappears and the angels tend to assume the character of putti. At this period the subject is used for ceiling decoration for which, like the apotheosis, it is particularly appropriate. The mandorla motif with its enclosed figure standing on a cloud was in some instances, especially in Italian Renaissance painting, copied from 'stage properties' that were constructed for the religious drama of the time that was as part of the church ceremony. These 'Ascension images' could performed be raised or lowered with the use of ropes and pulleys, and were sometimes part of an elaborately complicated machine. In time, when these devices were perfected, live actors were used.