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If I might insert an almost entirely unrelated tidbit. In 49 BC Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, trespassing the legal limit on his ruling territory, and mar
by SeanLuke 5y ago
If I might insert an almost entirely unrelated tidbit. In 49 BC Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, trespassing the legal limit on his ruling territory, and marking in some sense the start of his conquest of the known world. Hence the terms "crossing the Rubicon" and Caesar's famous saying "The die has been cast".
Fast forward to modern times, and people in the area of Romagna, near Ravenna, Rimini, and Cesena, had long claimed with no evidence that a polluted little creek in the region was the actual Rubicon: though its specific identification had long been lost to time. Nonetheless they named it "Il Rubicone". The mouth of the river opens directly south of Cesenatico, a beach town on the Adriatic and the family home of my in-laws. See the bust of Caesar on this bridge over the mouth:
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.166995,12.440708,3a,75y,274.24h,80.55t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOnGL_O8tPcbERzQK1jX82rrqoEBVf4FoFVuuq6!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOnGL_O8tPcbERzQK1jX82rrqoEBVf4FoFVuuq6%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya25.303179-ro-0-fo100!7i7200!8i3600 https://www.google.com/maps/@44.166995,12.440708,3a,75y,274....
Now Italians are famous for unnecessarily goosing local legends to make their neighborhoods more historically important than they are. (For example though Leonardo da Vinci did draw a small survey of Cesenatico's historic canal -- not related to the Rubicon -- for the Borgia Popes, that's not enough for the locals: the town has a local plaque saying he created the canal despite the fact that it preexisted him by hundreds of years.) But as it so happens, historical research culminating in the late '90s has verified the river's legend: the creek is in fact the actual Rubicon. In Italy, folk history goes way way back.
- jjtheblunt 5y agorandom diversion, but in the US at least, Jeep Wranglers come in a Rubicon version, with that word printed prominently on the hood/bonnet. It's supposedly the commonly purchased trim level because it costs more, so Rubicon the word is used for wealth ostentation. I've made a sport (a demented sport admittedly) out of asking folks with them what "Rubicon" means. I've not yet found a correct answer.
- nucleardog 5y ago> I've made a sport (a demented sport admittedly) out of asking folks with them what "Rubicon" means. I've not yet found a correct answer. Did any of the "incorrect" answers include "it's named after an off-roading trail"? Because it's named after an off-roading trail used by Jeep as a testing/proving ground[0]. Most of their trail rated / trailhawk models contain some sort of nod to off roading trails. E.g., their "Renegade" contains maps of popular trails embossed into various bits of plastic.[1] [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon_Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubicon_Trail [1] https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2016/06/jeep-renegade-easter-egg-hunting.html https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2016/06/jeep-renegade-ea...
- jjtheblunt 5y agoNever got that answer either. It's kinda interesting. and thanks for explaining that more modern use, as i'd not seen it myself, despite having had a Jeep and living not far from there for years, but not being an off roading sort in a vehicle other than a mountain bike.
- hhhhhdsgs 5y agoon a jeep it refers to the fact that the particular trim level is able to successfully navigate the famous rubicon trail - a offroading trail. no wonder people are confused by your question
- jjtheblunt 5y agothanks for citing it: i hadn't known of it, and we had a 2014 Jeep Cherokee and had driven from Tahoe to the Bay Area before, ignorant of the more current use of the name!
- s1artibartfast 5y agoRubicon is also a reference to the Rubicon trial, a popular 4x4 trial running from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe. The trial was named in 1840, and may itself be a reference to caesar's crossing. https://www.edcgov.us/Government/Rubicon/pages/Rubicon_Trail_History.aspx https://www.edcgov.us/Government/Rubicon/pages/Rubicon_Trail...
- jjtheblunt 5y agovery cool...had not known that modern trail, and lived not far from it for years. thank you
- SeanLuke 5y agoPretty sure the Jeeps are named after the Rubicon Trail in California. Why it's called that, I have no idea.
- jjtheblunt 5y agoThanks for citing that, as we had a modern Jeep Cherokee and didn't know that trail, despite having driven right by there before.
- rozab 5y agoIt sure does. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemnos#Modern_period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemnos#Modern_period > On 8 October 1912, during the First Balkan War, Lemnos became part of Greece. The Greek navy under Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis took it over without any casualties from the occupying Turkish Ottoman garrison, who were returned to Anatolia. Peter Charanis, born on the island in 1908 and later a professor of Byzantine history at Rutgers University recounts when the island was occupied and Greek soldiers were sent to the villages and stationed themselves in the public squares. Some of the children ran to see what Greek soldiers looked like. "What are you looking at?" one of them asked. "At Hellenes," the children replied. "Are you not Hellenes yourselves?" a soldier retorted. "No, we are Romans." the children replied.