Mouth of Truth

This guide to the Mouth of Truth in Rome opens on the set of Roman Holiday in 1953, as Gregory Peck slipped his hand up his sleeve before reaching into the ancient stone mouth beside Audrey Hepburn. It traces the carved marble disc's uncertain origins as a possible drain cover, its centuries in this church portico since 1631, and the medieval practice of testing suspected liars by having them place a hand inside it, with an executioner waiting out of sight. Listen for how one unscripted scream on a film set turned a centuries-old legend into a modern icon.