Rubicon river, Savignano sul Rubicone, Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe скачать в хорошем качестве

Rubicon river, Savignano sul Rubicone, Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe

The Rubicon is a small 35 km long torrential river in northern Italy, which flows in the province of Forlì-Cesena and meets the Via Emilia at Savignano sul Rubicone and then flows into the Adriatic Sea just south of Cesenatico. The Latin etymology (Rubico, -onis) remains unclear. The sources of the river are found in clayey soils. These are slightly arenaceous, gray-blue marly clays from the Pliocene (3 to 4 million years old). In the vicinity, more sandy soils of yellow, yellow-orange color emerge, which appear in banks of more or less compact thicknesses (cemented sands). The granulometry of the sands varies from fine to medium, and at the base of each layer a more massive structure is observed which tends to gradually become more laminated on the surface. The dominant feature is the frequent presence of arenaceous "pebbles" (cogoli). The arenaceous layers are separated by thin clayey-sandy levels and the fossil content is high with the presence of lamellibranch shells. Going down to the valley, the landscape it crosses passes from the hills to the plain, where it flows forming meanders. As it passes through the high plain, typical sedimentary geomorphological forms are observed, such as the alluvial cone. In correspondence with the great variations in slope, the river has discharged considerable thicknesses of raw sediments (sands and gravels). These deposits constitute the band of union between the last layers of the Pliocene and the plain of the Holocene age (about 10,000 years ago), a long period during which the glacial and interglacial phases of the Quaternary alternated. In the lower plain, clayey soils prevail again; there are also sandy and gravelly strips that correspond to the current waterways and their meanders, with areas, generally clayey, where the settling of the finest sediments has occurred. There are not enough elements to establish that the river currently called Rubicone (which until the 1920s was called Fiumicino) coincides with the watercourse that the ancient Romans called by that name. Historical data only say that the ancient Rubicon flowed between the ancient cities of Rimini and Cesena, and it is not known whether it should be identified with the Use, the Fiumicino or the Pisciatello, the three rivers that flow today in that territory. It was only in 1932, thanks to Mussolini's intervention, that Fiumicino was chosen by decree and its name was officially changed to Rubicon. In Roman times the Rubicon marked for a period (late republican period, between 59 BC and 42 BC) the border between Italy, considered an integral part of the territory of Rome, and the province of Gallia Cisalpina and was therefore forbidden to generals to pass it into arms. The historical episode, to which the name of the river is linked, sees Gaius Julius Caesar as the protagonist at the end of the Gallic Wars (58 BC-51 BC). In the late autumn of 50 BC, the Roman Senate ordered Caesar to dismiss the army, to hand over the powers of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy, at the time still formally a province, in which Caesar recruited most of his legions) and to go to Rome. Caesar, sensing the plot against him that the senate was hatching, that is to outlaw the party of populares that he represented, and fearing for his own life, refused, remaining camped in the province that had been assigned to him, not far from the today Cervia. The army, loyal to Caesar because the payment of his fees depended on him, remained united under the orders of the general. Only his deputy, Tito Labieno, deserted and sided with the Roman Republic. For safety, Caesar had the northern bank of the Rubicon garrisoned, but he was not in substantial danger, as, in Italy, the senate could field only two legions. Caesar crossed it in the early hours of January 10, 49 BC. at the head of his army, composed of the Legio XIII Gemina (for a total of about 5,000 men and 300 knights), on his return from Gaul, and having entered the territory of Rome in arms, he thus manifested his rebellion against the Roman state: according to Suetonius' account, before resolving to this step it seems that he hesitated and finally made his decision by exclaiming alea iacta est ("the die is cast") according to tradition. The proper name "Rubicon" has entered some languages, such as English, with the meaning of "point of no return" in expressions such as "to cross the Rubicon".