Mouth of truth?

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slaxelot

the mouth of truth/bocca della verita is in Rome at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, by the Tiber river, a little south of the bridge just below the island.

It can be visited for free, nobody monitors it, at least that I saw, I think there's just some gates that are closed late in the day. When I went, it wasnt possible to get a pic of the mouth by itself cos there's a whole line of people that just line up to take the pic of them sticking their hand in the mouth (which I did too).

Things I've heard about it, which any good guidebook will have something on it: it was a manhole cover, or part of a fountain. I've heard that the image is of King Phillip II, Alexander the Great's father, b/c of the long line on the left eye that looks like a scar. Wiki sez, and a lot of other places say that it was of some water god, which makes since too if it was a fountain. The disc is not in its original place, and I've never heard of why it was put in the church in the first place.

The reason it's called Mouth of Truth comes from the tradition Romans in the middle ages had of a way of trying theives or minor criminals. They would place their hand in the mouth and they were untruthful, the scorpion that was placed in the back would bite them, but the regular folk didnt know there was a scorpion there, so they thought the big marble sculpture was biting people's hands off.

Michael

La Bocca della VeritÃ is a lion in Venice. People would write bad things about their neighbors and put it in the mouth. if you were lying you'de get a bad omen.

sassyzen

I actually thought you were confused with the Blarney Stone in Ireland until I looked it up.... ahahahaaaaa (sorry).

The Mouth of Truth (La Bocca della VeritÃ ) - In Rome

Beneath the portico of Santa Maria in Cosmedin there is the enormous face of a Triton, which came from a fountain. Its large mouth was thought in the Middle Ages to be the mouth of an oracle, but it was mainly used for submitting liars to the judgment of God.

Forced to put their hand into the orifice, the innocent escaped unharmed while the guilty lost their hand. It is said that the judges may have "helped" God to pass judgment when they were convinced that the accused was guilty.

Piazza Bocca della VeritÃ , 18
Rome 00186 Italy
+39 6 678 1419

I found a pic of it on the website and it's a stone face in a wall with what looks like an opening in the mouth of this stone face - and where (I am assuming) one put's one hand in, to find out if one is lying or not.... go on, go try it... I dare ya!

Cheers!

Mo Chan Un M

i shall go there soon

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