Crossing the Rubicon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Crossing the Rubicon (disambiguation).
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"Burning bridges" redirects here. For other uses with capitalization, see Burning Bridges.
Crossing the Rubicon is a metaphor for deliberately proceeding past a point of no return.
The phrase originates with Julius Caesar's invasion of Ancient Rome when, on January 10, 49 BC, he led his army across the Rubicon river in violation of law, hence making conflict inevitable.
The phrase has a number of synonyms.
- Iacta alea est
- Burning bridges. The expression is derived from the ancient military tactics that if one were to burn down a bridge after crossing it, one could not cross the bridge back to retreat.
- Burning boats, a variation of burning one's bridges. The Moor commander Tariq bin Ziyad, upon setting foot on the Iberian peninsula in 711, ordered their ships to be burnt, so that they had no choice but thrust forward and fight with their enemy.
- "Break the woks and sink the boats(破釜沉舟)", an ancient Chinese saying.
