Mouth of Truth

And for once I'm not talking about me.  Here's an utterly cheesy picture of me placing my hand in the Mouth of Truth in Rome.  It's more appropriate name is the La Bella della Verita, and it is located at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.  There is some debate about its original purpose, although most folks think that it was associated with a fountain or acted as a manhole cover.  The much less prosaic version, and thus in my mind the better version, is that it tests the validity of anyone brave enough to stick their hand in its mouth by biting off the fingers of a liar.  Many folks remember it from the 1950's movie Roman Holiday where both Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck stick their hands in the Mouth of Truth.

Happily I received no damage, although it seemed to be spending as much time as the sorting hat in Harry Potter in deciding my fate.