The Via Aemilia (modern SS 9) still follows its original Roman course as it runs between the hills and the plain; it would have been the obvious course to follow as it was the only major Roman road east of the Apennine Mountains leading to and from the Po Valley. In doing so, he deliberately broke the law limiting his imperium, making armed conflict inevitable. Exploitation of underground waters along the upper course of the Rubicon has reduced its flow—it was a minor river even during Roman times ("parvi Rubiconis ad undas" as Lucan said, "to the waves of [the] tiny Rubicon")—and has since lost its natural route, except in its upper course, between low and woody hills. He was explicitly ordered not to take his army across the Rubicon river, which was at that time a northern boundary of Italy. It was reported that Caesar dined with Sallust, Hirtius, Oppius, Lucius Balbus and Sulpicus Rufus on the night after his famous crossing into Italy January 10.[1]. [2] The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has survived to refer to any individual or group committing itself irrevocably to a risky or revolutionary course of action, similar to the modern phrase "passing the point of no return". During the late Roman Republic, the river Rubicon marked the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul to the north-east and Italy proper (controlled directly by Rome and its allies) to the south. They came-up with the name Rubicon, a reference to the idiom “crossing the Rubicon,” which means to pass a point of no return and refers to Julius Caesar’s army crossing the Rubicon River in 49 BC. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Furthermore, obeying the commands of a general who did not legally possess imperium was a capital offence. According to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase alea iacta est ("the die is cast"). His act thus amounted to a declaration of war against the Roman Senate and resulted in the three-year civil war that left Caesar ruler of the Roman world. In doing so, he deliberately broke the law on imperium and made armed conflict inevitable. The river flows for around 80 km (50 mi) from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the south of the Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena. In 49 BC, perhaps on January 10, Julius Caesar led a single legion, Legio XIII Gemina, south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to make his way to Rome. In January 49 BC C. Julius Caesar led a single legion, Legio XIII, south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to make his way to Rome. Caesar's decision for swift action forced Pompey, the lawful consuls (C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus), and a large part of the Roman Senate to flee Rome in fear. The Rubicon, like other small rivers of the region, often changed its course during this period. The crossing of a small stream in northern Italy became one of ancient history's most pivotal events. Suetonius depicts Caesar as undecided as he approached the river, and attributes the crossing to a supernatural apparition. Exercising imperium when forbidden by the law was a capital offence. Generals were thus obliged to disband their armies before entering Italy. Fully aware of the momentous nature of his decision, Caesar ignored the warning and began to march south on Rome. The Rubicon is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just south of Ravenna. It was known as Fiumicino prior to 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC. Rubicon, Latin Rubico, or Rubicon, small stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy in the era of the Roman Republic. In a section of the Tabula Peutingeriana, an ancient document showing the network of Roman roads, a river in northeastern Italy labeled "fl. According to some authors, he is said to have uttered the phrase "alea iacta est"—the die is cast—as his army marched through the shallow river. Pompey, the Republic's hope, was left without his main army, which was still in Spain, and his support base was in the eastern provinces. Omissions? The governors then served as generals of the Roman army within the territory they ruled. For other uses, see, A brief account of the controversies favoring rivers of Romagna, between the Pisciatello, called the Rigone in its lowest reaches, the Fiumicino near Savignano and the Uso is in. Caesar's subsequent victory in Caesar's civil war ensured that punishment for the infraction would never be rendered. We will now be performing system maintenance in Augustus from Saturday May 31 2017 4:00 PM to May 31 2017 11:00 PM (EST). On 10 January 49 BC, Roman general Julius Caesar defied an ultimatum set to him by the Senate. The Strait of Otranto at its southeasterly limit links it with the Ionian Sea. If he brought his veteran armies across the river Rubicon in northern Italy, the Republic would be in a state of civil war. The decision robbed the Rubicon of its importance, and the name gradually disappeared from the local toponymy. Please note the system will not be available during this time. With this humble start, but grand ambition, Rubicon was born. [5] As the centuries went by, several rivers of the Adriatic coast between Ravenna and Rimini have at times been said to correspond to the ancient Rubicon. On the north-western side, the border was marked by the river Arno, a much wider and more important waterway, which flows westward from the Apennine Mountains (it and the Rubicon rise not far from each other) into the Tyrrhenian Sea. In 1933, after various efforts that spanned centuries, the Fiumicino, which crossed the town of Savignano di Romagna (now Savignano sul Rubicone), was officially identified as the former Rubicon. After Caesar's crossing, the Rubicon was a geographical feature of note until about 42 BC, when Octavian merged the Province of Cisalpine Gaul into Italia and the river ceased to be the extreme northern border of Italy. It was reported that Caesar dined with Sallust, Hirtius, Oppius, Lucius Balbus and Sulpicus Rufus on the night after his famous crossing into Italy January 10. As his term of governorship ended, the Roman Senate ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome. Rubicon, Latin Rubico, or Rubicon, small stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy in the era of the Roman Republic. It is about 500 miles (800 km) long with an average width of 100 miles, a maximum depth of 4,035 feet (1,324 metres), and an…. As dictator, Caesar presided over the end of the Roman Republic and the start of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and during the first centuries of the Middle Ages, the coastal plain between Ravenna and Rimini was flooded many times. However, the river-bed shape observed in Pisciatello and the Rubicone river in the present day, well below Roman-age soil layers, is likely to indicate that any possible course modification of rivers could have occurred only very close to the coastline, and therefore only slight. The Rubicon (Latin: Rubico, Italian: Rubicone pronounced [rubiˈkone][1]) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just south of Ravenna. Savignano sul Rubicone is an industrial town and the river has become one of the most polluted in the Emilia-Romagna region. Quickly taking several northern towns, the news reached Rome by January 17. This page was last edited on 12 August 2020, at 11:39. The movement of Julius Caesar’s forces over the Rubicon into Italy in 49 bc violated the law (the Lex Cornelia Majestatis) that forbade a general to lead an army out of the province to which he was assigned. The movement of Julius Caesar’s forces over the Rubicon into Italy in 49 bc violated the law (the Lex Cornelia Majestatis) that forbade a general to lead an army out of the province to which he was assigned. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Updates? “Crossing the Rubicon” became a popular phrase describing a step that definitely commits a person to a given course of action. According to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase ālea iacta est ("the die has been cast"). Coordinates: 44°05′35″N 12°23′45″E / 44.093029°N 12.395834°E / 44.093029; 12.395834, January 49 BCE event leading to the Roman Civil War; also used as an idiom to mean a point of no return, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crossing_the_Rubicon&oldid=970849597, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from May 2015, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 2 August 2020, at 19:41. Strong evidence supporting this theory came in 1991,[7] when three Italian scholars (Pignotti, Ravagli, and Donati), after a comparison between the Tabula Peutingeriana and other ancient sources (including Cicero), showed that the distance from Rome to the Rubicon River was 200 Roman miles. It was known as Fiumicino prior to 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC. With the revival during the fifteenth century of interest in the topography of ancient Roman Italy, the matter of identifying the Rubicon in the contemporary landscape became a topic of debate among Renaissance humanists. If a general entered Italy in command of an army, both the general and his soldiers became outlaws and were automatically condemned to death. Suetonius depicts Caesar as undecided as he approached the river, and attributes the crossing to a supernatural apparition. Furthermore, the features of the present-day Rubicon river (north–south course, orthogonal to the Via Aemilia) and the Via Aemilia itself (a straight reach before and after the crossing, and a turn just passing by San Giovanni in Compito, so marking a possible administrative boundary) are common to typical geographical oriented limits of Roman age, being what made this a clue of actual identification of the present-day Rubicon River with the Fiumicino.[6]. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Rubico" redirects here. Suetonius depicts Caesar as undecided as he approached the river, and attributes the crossing to a supernatural apparition. Key elements of their work are: Today there is very little evidence of Caesar's historical passage. Caesar's decision for swift action forced Pompey, the unlawful consuls (C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus), and a large part of the Roman Senate to flee Rome in fear. In January of 49 BC, Caesar brought the 13th legion across the river, which the Roman government considered insurrection, treason, and a declaration of war on the Roman Senate. The Latin word Rubico comes from the adjective rubeus, meaning "red". Attempts to deduce the original course of the Rubicon can be made only by studying written documents and other archaeological evidence such as Roman milestones, which indicate the distance between the ancient river and the nearest Roman towns. Julius Caesar's crossing the Rubicon river in January 49 BC precipitated the Roman Civil War, which ultimately led to Caesar's becoming dictator and the rise of the imperial era of Rome. [3] To support the claim of the Pisciatello, a spurious inscription forbidding the passage of an army in the name of the Roman people and Senate, the so-called Sanctio, was placed by a bridge on that river. The Rubicon was crossed and Caesar officially invaded the legal border from his province into Italy, thus starting the civil war. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Adriatic Sea, arm of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between the Italian and Balkan peninsulas. Caesar had been appointed to a governorship over a region that ranged from southern Gaul to Illyricum (but not Italy).

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