A quiz question · easy
What phrase did Caesar reportedly say as he crossed the Rubicon in January 49 BCE?
Suetonius (Divus Julius 32) records the Latin 'Iacta alea est'. Plutarch gives the same phrase in Greek (Menander's anerriphtho kybos). The XIII Gemina legion crossed with him.
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The Roman General Who Crossed a Small Italian River With One Legion on 10 January 49 BCE and Started a Five-Year Civil War Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon — a small river marking the southern boundary of his Cisalpine Gaul governorship — on the night of 10-11 January 49 BCE with the XIII Gemina legion. The crossing was technically treason. It triggered the Roman civil war of 49-45 BCE, the defeat of Pompey, and the foundation of Caesarian autocracy. He reportedly said "alea iacta est" — "the die is cast" — as he crossed.
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