Crossing the Rubicon - where did it come from?

Monrovians - Unite!  Know your history and learn from it.  Much of it is free on-line.


If two thousand years of popularity among serious readers can make a book a classic, Livy's "History of Rome from Its Foundations" is a classic.  It was Livy's purpose "to preserve the memory of the noble deeds of the Roman people and to point out conspicuous examples of good and evil acts."

Livy was born in Padua, in 59 B.C., ten years before Caesar crossed the Rubicon and the beginning of the struggle which brought an end to republican Rome.  It was at this point, camped with his army beside the Rubicon in 49 B.C. where Caesar decided that, “the die has been cast,” and that it was time to take action. So he marshaled his forces and brought them with him across the Rubicon as a sign of rebellion, then proceeded to lead them on an invasion of Italy and lead Rome into a great civil war. After claiming victory, Caesar was named “Dictator for Life,” and the Roman Empire (as history will always remember it) was born. It was the crossing of the Rubicon which opened the doors for Rome to expand and take over most of the known world within the next few centuries.

Read more: http://roman-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/julius_caesar_crosses_the_rubicon#ixzz0Xwoo9IIp