 The Mouth of Truth | |
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| Location | Santa Maria in Cosmedin |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°53′17″N12°28′54″E / 41.88806°N 12.48167°E /41.88806; 12.48167 |
TheMouth of Truth (Italian:Bocca della Verità[ˈbokkadellaveriˈta]) is an ancientRoman marble mask inRome,Italy, which stands against the left wall of the portico of theSanta Maria in Cosmedin church, at thePiazza della Bocca della Verità, the site of the ancientForum Boarium (the ancient cattle market). According to an enduring medieval legend, it will bite off the hand of any liar who places their hand in its mouth,[1] or, alternatively, any who utters a lie while their hand is in the mouth.[2] It still attracts many visitors who insert their hands.
The massive marble mask weighs about 1,300 kg (2,900 lb) and probably depicts the face of the sea titan godOceanus. The eyes, nostrils and mouth are open. Historians are not quite certain what the original purpose of the disc was. It was possibly used as adrain cover in the nearbyTemple of Hercules Victor, which had anoculus (a round open space in the middle of the roof) similar to that of the Pantheon. Hence, it could rain inside. It is also thought that cattle merchants used it to drain the blood of cattle sacrificed to the demi-god Hercules.
In the 13th century the disc was probably removed from the temple and placed against the wall of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin. In the 17th century it eventually moved to its current location inside theportico of the church.
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The Mouth of Truth has been featured as a theme in historical European art.Lucas Cranach the Elder, a German painter during the Renaissance period, created two paintings depicting a woman placing her hand in the mouth of a statue of a lion while onlookers watched, a subject which was drawn byAlbrecht Altdorfer and made into a woodcut by the Dutch printmakerLucas van Leyden.[3]
The Mouth of Truth appears in the 1953 filmRoman Holiday as a storytelling device as Hepburn's and Peck's characters are nottruthful with each other. Robert Silverberg uses the Mouth of Truth as a means of providing the information that leads to the climax of his novellaNightwings.[4] InHet geheim van de afgebeten vingers by Dutch writerRindert Kromhout,[5] the fingers of lying children are cut off with ascythe by a skeleton who lives in theCapuchin Crypt in theSanta Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. Additionally, it was featured in episode 14 of the first season of the animeJoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
There are a number ofBocca della Verità replicas and derivative works. A full-size reproduction sits in theAlta Vista Gardens in California and one ofJules Blanchard's sculptures in theLuxembourg Garden in Paris depicts a woman with her hand in the sculpture's mouth. Coin-operatedfortune teller machines have been developed and installed in different parts of the world, including one on display in theMusée Mécanique inSan Francisco.[6][7]
Media related toBocca della Verità at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Colossus of Constantine | Landmarks of Rome Bocca della Verità | Succeeded by Laocoön and His Sons |
