These votive figures are images dedicated to the gods, and date back to somewhere between 2900-2600 BCE. They were found in the Diyala River Valley in Iraq. The worshiper would commission a statue and have inscribed on it something they accomplished in that god's honor. Or the statue might simply be identified by what they are doing, ie. "one who offers prayer." This figure would represent the worshiper to the god. The physical form of these figures represents the conventions of Sumerian art, and show us today something about how they viewed beauty and the human form; just as the saint statues below epitomize art and what the human form in art had evolved to at the height of the Catholic church.

These statues of the saints that top the peristyle/collonade at St. Peters in Rome offer another idea of intercessory prayer. Each "patron" saint represents a different group of people (St. Christopher for travelers, St. Lawrence for cooks, etc.) The patron saint of a particular group of people is a saint who will pay special attention to, protect and love the members of a particular group. Prayers by members of a group are more likely to be answered by their patron saint. Some consider it a special devotion to God by displaying humility in asking a saint for intercession rather than expecting to be answered themselves, calling to mind Job 42:8, which implies God's favor to the virtuous.