Rubicon

The Rubicon, which is today identified with the ancient Rubicon

The Rubicon near the mouth at Gatteo

The Rubicon (including Rubicon or Rubicon ), Italian: Rubicon, a small river, which flows south of Ravenna in the Adriatic Sea, and is used because of its history of a metaphor for the foundation.

Historical Significance

Historically, the Rubicon was a border between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul and the real Italy, this was not a province to classical Roman times.

The Rubicon by the Roman civil war, Gaius Julius Caesar was known from 49 BC led against Pompey. The Roman Senate decided on January 7, 49 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar that dismissed his army and his empire, that is, had his command of Gaul and Illyria, resign before he could run for the consulate again. Thereupon Caesar crossed on 10 January 49 BC and his troops crossed the Rubicon. The armed crossing the river to the south - and thus in the direction of Rome - was tantamount to a declaration of war on the Roman Senate. Caesar was aware that from this point on no return, what he in the famous quote alea est iacta: brought (literally " thrown the dice is " ) for expression.

Geography

The location of the ancient Rubicon is still unclear. Recently certain Benito Mussolini as a river Rubicon.

Today's Rubicon springs about 40 kilometers northeast of Florence in the middle altitudes of the Apennines. It then flows through the southern part of the Emilia- Romagna Forli past, Ravenna happened in the south and flows between the hamlets Gatteo Gatteo and Savignano a Mare Savignano sul Rubicon in the Adriatic Sea.

Rubicon as a metaphor

Even today, the term " cross the Rubicon " for irrevocably engage in a risky activity; He was the inspiration for a psychological model of action, the Rubicon model of action phases in Motivation Theory by Heinz Heckhausen. A well-known use of this metaphor was what became known as the Rubicon speech speech, which gave the then South African President Pieter Willem Botha in August 1985.