Shakespeare, Crossing the Rubicon. That was strictly forbidden. The Rubicon is, in reality, little more than a stream. “Shakespeare, Crossing the Rubicon.” Shakespeare Survey 53 (2000): 73–88. Alea iacta est ("The die has been cast") is a variation of a Latin phrase (iacta alea est [ˈjakta ˈaːlɛ.a ˈɛst]) attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 BC, as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy.With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance of the Senate and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. Julius Caesar's crossing the Rubicon river on January 10, 49 BC precipitated the Roman Civil War, which ultimately led to Caesar's becoming dictator and the rise of the imperial era of Rome.Caesar had been appointed to a governorship over a region that ranged from southern Gaul to Illyricum (but not Italy). For anyone who ever sat through history classes in Western Civilization or who read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in an English literature class, the term “crossing the Rubicon” will be familiar. A fanciful depiction of Caesar crossing the Rubicon. Rome was for reasoned debate among civilized men. Marshall combines source study with psychoanalytic criticism to explore the semiotics of character in Julius Caesar and Coriolanus. By Alice Childs August 18, 2020 For anyone who ever sat through history classes in Western Civilization or who read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in an English literature class, the term “crossing the Rubicon” will be familiar. Julius Caesar and the Crossing of the Rubicon, Francesco Granacci, 1494. Roman masculinity in Shakespeare remains a “question of sexual difference—an open question, still.” Marshall, Cynthia. “Alea iacta est,” is the most famous Latin version, though Caesar spoke the words in Greek. There was no turning back, for Caesar or for Rome. C. Marshall; The Ancient World in Shakespeare: Authenticity or Anachronism? In his military campaigns against the Gauls, the […] Ever since Julius Caesar’s audacious and risky march across that border river, the expression “crossing the Rubicon” has meant a fateful and irreversible action. The decision robbed the Rubicon of its importance, and the name gradually disappeared from the local geography. In his […] “Julius Caesar and the Crossing of the Rubicon,” Francesco Granacci, 1494 On this date in 49 BC, returning general Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon into Rome with his army, signalling the start of civil war. After Caesar’s crossing, the Rubicon was a geographical feature of note until about 42 BCE, when Octavian merged the province of Gallia Cisalpina into Italia and the river ceased to be the extreme northern border of Italy. Before Julius Caesar became Emperor of Rome (thus becoming the first Caesar), he was a brilliant general. Before Julius Caesar became Emperor of Rome (thus becoming the first Caesar), he was a brilliant general. When he reached the water of the Little Rubicon, clearly to the leader through the murky night appeared a mighty image of his country in distress, grief in her face, her white hair streaming from her tower-crowned head, with tresses torn and shoulders bare she stood before him, and sighing said: Here’s Frye in Fools of Time with some observations on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar relevant to the issues of social order, […] “Let the die be cast,” is the actual phrase according to some translators, and it may have been a quote from an older Greek play. Courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum. Its significance to Rome lay in its location, marking the official border between Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, the region south of the Alps governed by Julius Caesar. Military conquest was for the frontiers. Courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum. 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