The Mouth of Truth

The famous marble mask found in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome (where Pope Urban VIII transferred it in 1632), was originally located in the Forum Boarium and was part of a fountain; the Forum Boarium was a commercial area near the Tiber in ancient Rome.

The fountain was probably one of many in this area and may have been used by traders to wash their wares.

As the Roman tradition has it, the mouth of truth was one of the many apotropaic masks, or a mask used to protect against the forces of evil.

The bearded figure represented in the mask is not entirely clear, it could be the Greek god of the river Triton or the sea god Neptune, some sources also suggest that the mask could represent a barbarian king, a Roman gladiator, the god Tiber or Jupiter, but in fact no hypothesis has sufficient sources to prevail over the others.

But why does the name allude to the truth?

Among the cult scenes in the history of cinema, we find the one in which the character played by Audrey Hepburn puts his hand in the mouth of the mask while Gregory Peck's character looks at it, this happens in the 1953 film Roman Holiday.

In fact, the journalist played by Peck tells the princess (Audrey Hepburn), the Roman tradition that after an affirmation, if the mask was closed on the hand, this was considered as proof of a lie, on the contrary, if the hand was returned complete this would have been interpreted as proof that his words corresponded to the truth.

We can trace this popular belief back to the Middle Ages, when the practice of ordeal was not obsolete throughout Europe.

What is ordeal

Trial is a form of divine judgment, has a long history and ancient origin, dating back to the times of the ancient Germanic and Celtic tribes in Europe.

The etymology of the word "ordalia" comes from the Latin "ordalium", which means "test" or "examination". Initially, the ordeal was a religious practice in which proof of innocence or guilt was sought through a divine miracle.

In medieval European society, ordeal became a common judgment method for resolving legal and legal disputes.

The idea of the ordeal was that if the deity intervened to protect the innocent or to punish the guilty, then the truth would be revealed through a miracle. For example, the guilty could be seriously injured or even killed during the ordeal, while the innocent would not have suffered any damage.

There are several forms of ordeal that have been used throughout history, such as bathing in boiling water, dueling with weapons, taking an oath on a sacred object, and throwing the accused into a river.

The Mouth of Truth represents a particular form of ordeal in which the mask was believed to reveal the truth or guilt of anyone who touched it.

Ordeal and Roman Law

Roman law developed in Roman times, from the 5th century BC to the end of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD

It was a legal system based on written law, which had a great influence on modern law, Roman law was based on some fundamental principles such as legality, justice, equity and proportionality.

During the Middle Ages, Roman law underwent a period of obscurantism, in which the legal system fragmented and evolved into various local laws, such as Germanic law, Anglo-Saxon law and canon law.

However, Roman law continued to be studied and applied in parts of Europe, especially in southern Italy.

The ordeal, that is the judicial practice in which the guilty person had to prove his innocence through physical evidence, was favored by the Catholic Church to the detriment of Roman law.

Medieval Catholicism was strongly influenced by theological thought which regarded truth as a divine gift and which believed that God intervened directly in human affairs; this thinking led to the practice of the ordeal, which was seen as a way for divine truth to emerge through miraculous intervention.

Roman law, however, was based on reason and logic, and sought to find truth through inquiry and reasoning, this rational approach to justice conflicted with the practice of ordeal, which was seen as superstitious and devoid of rational basis; it is no coincidence that not all Catholics were in favor of the ordeal, for example, Thomas Aquinas, one of the most important Catholic theologians of the Middle Ages, harshly criticized this practice, arguing that it was an inappropriate way to try to find the truth.

Despite this, the practice of ordeal continued to be used in many parts of Europe, and was often championed by powerful Church figures.

There are also instances where the Church itself used the ordeal as a method of settling internal disputes or of trying people suspected of heresy.

In summary, the practice of ordeal was supported by medieval theological thought which saw truth as a divine gift and which believed that God intervened directly in human affairs. This superstitious approach to justice came into conflict with the rationalism of Roman law, but continued to be used in many parts of Europe, often with the support of the Church.

This practice was outlawed in the 12th century by the Second Lateran Council, which decreed that guilt or innocence must be established through documentary evidence and testimony .

What is certain is that my reinterpretations of the Mouth of Truth are not a danger to the limbs