June 08, 2006

The world's first lie detector

I came across La Bocca della Veritá (Italian for The Mouth of Truth) in Rome. It is remembered as the world's first lie detector. It is part of the exterior of the church Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and used to be an ancient drain.

According to legend, if you stick your hand in the mouth while telling a lie, it will be bitten off. In order to perpetuate the myth, it is said that priests used to place scorpions inside. A famous scene in the movie world where that happens can be found in Roman Holiday starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.

14 comments:

BuJ said...

all this time i see ur pic and i think it's something nice when in fact scorpions used to lie behind it..

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Well the truth is always a nice thing, and that is what I felt it portrayed. For that is it's name, the mouth of truth :)

Dont worry, there are no scorpions there now, I checked. Only the hands of millions of japanese tourists, and of course mine.

Samawel said...

I remember seeing this from somewhere... hehe... I actually thought that the hand gets cut off, so I explained it by someone on the other side with a giant kitchen knife. haha

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

loll samawel!!

Well don't you go there and start a new trend! Or else Buj will never be able to look at my display pic again. Ma biseer.

Samawel said...

haha... I'll probably only do it to the few guys who've been unlucky enough with me to put their hands at the wrong place at the wrong time... haha... umm, ya..moving along

Samawel said...

Buj would be safe from it all, not to worry... haha

Diligent Candy said...

You've been tagged

http://diligentcandy.blogspot.com/2006/06/you-are-tagged.html

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Ya Samawel...blush blush lol
Well I'm glad I ain't a guy then. I'd like to keep my hands. I'm sure Buj will be pleased.

D candy!!! I saw that, I am preparing it and it will be posted tomorrow... when all will be revealed...lol

BuJ said...

what ru guys talking about? i am lost.
to be honest that pic kinda freaked me out.. and i never understood why u liked it
now scorpions don't help!

archer14 said...

Chicken fingers don't taste that good do they? Graduated to human fingers? Good for you, now make Buj pay for playing too much with his piano.

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

well Arch I like chicken legs thank you very much. I wanna keep hearing Buj play...so no eating fingers.

Someone please find Buj, he is lost. I didn't know you were such a scaredy cat! Come on! It's like a beautiful honest sun gazing at you with an open mouth...

BuJ said...

archer14: hope u didn't mean that.. coz it will give me a reason otherwise to hunt u down.. gut your stomach.. cook it while u watch it stew.. while bleeding of course...

my piano is almost holy to me... don't try to be smart please :)

plus to correct your sentence it's "playing too much on his piano"

SS: i am not lost.

as for the spammer.. i hope he gets deleted and lost.

Samawel said...

hehe

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Glad you are found again Buj.

What's all this stomach gutting. And you think scorpions in an ancient drain are scary...