Supplication is a form of prayer, wherein one party humbly or earnestly asks another party to provide something, either for the party who is doing the supplicating or on behalf of someone else.
Denarius minted by M. Aemilius Scaurus in 58 BC, showing the supplication of a figure labeled Rex Aretas with Jupiter driving a quadriga on the reverse
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ancestor. More generally, prayer can also have the purpose of thanksgiving or praise, and in comparative religion is closely associated with more abstract forms of meditation and with charms or spells.
A kneeling position with raised hands expressed "supplication" in classical antiquity. The word for "prayer" and for "supplication" is identical in ancient languages (oratio, προσευχή, תְּפִלָּה etc.), with no terminological distinction between supplications addressed to human as opposed to divine powers. Statuette known as "Praying German" or "supplicating barbarian". It is not known if this figure was originally set in a context of religious prayer or of military surrender.
The valkyrie Sigrdrífa says a pagan Norse prayer in Sigrdrífumál; illustration by Arthur Rackham
Old woman praying by Théophile Lybaert
Captain Samuel Cass, a rabbi, conducting the first prayer service celebrated on German territory by Jewish personnel of the First Canadian Army near Cleve, Germany, 18 March 1945
