Rubicon

The Rubicon (Latin: Rubico, Italian: Rubicone) is both the name of a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just south of Ravenna, and the name historically given to a river that was famously crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 B.C. While it has not been proven, historians generally agree that the two rivers are indeed one and the same; this was not always the case.

The modern-day river runs for about 80 kilometers, from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena. The Latin word rubico comes from the adjective rubeus, meaning "red". The river was so named because its waters are colored red by mud deposits.

History

During the Roman republic, the river Rubicon marked the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul to the north-east and Italy proper (controlled directly by Rome and its socii (allies)) to the south. On the north-western side, the border was marked by the river Arno, a much wider and more important waterway, which flows westward from the Apennine Mountains (its source is not far from Rubicon's source) into the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Rubicon (Roma Sub Rosa)

Rubicon is a historical novel by American author Steven Saylor, first published by St. Martin's Press in 1999. It is the seventh book in his Roma Sub Rosa series of mystery stories set in the final decades of the Roman Republic. The main character is the Roman sleuth Gordianus the Finder.

Plot summary

The year is 49 BC, and Caesar has crossed the Rubicon, throwing the Roman Republic into civil war. At the same time, a favourite cousin of Pompey has been murdered, Pompey and the other leaders of the Optimates faction of the senate are leaving Rome to rally their forces against Caesar, but Pompey forces Gordianus to take on the job of solving the murder. To ensure himself of the Finder's diligence, he seizes his son-in-law and makes him join the Pompeian army, while Gordianus' adoptive son Meto, secretary to Caesar, is part of the other army marching on Rome.

Christopher McQuarrie

Christopher McQuarrie (born 1968) is an American screenwriter, director and producer. A regular collaborator of director Bryan Singer, he co-wrote the screenplay of Singer's Public Access, wrote the screenplay for The Usual Suspects, co-wrote and produced Valkyrie and co-wrote Jack the Giant Slayer and Edge of Tomorrow.

McQuarrie won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Usual Suspects. McQuarrie wrote and directed The Way of the Gun, Jack Reacher and directed Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, his fourth collaboration with actor and producer Tom Cruise, after Valkyrie, Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow. He also created the 2010 NBC television series Persons Unknown.

Early life

McQuarrie was born in 1968 in either Princeton, New Jersey or Princeton Junction, New Jersey, a nearby unincorporated community, where he was raised. After graduating from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in 1986, he worked as an assistant at Christ Church Grammar School in Perth, Western Australia, recalling in 2013, “I was offered an Interim program. ... I picked a place out of a hat and ended up at Christ Church Grammar School. I lived at the school and worked at the boarding school, though I did very little work". Fired after nine months, "I hitchhiked for three months, came home, knocked around for about a month and then immediately started working for this detective agency.... [It] was actually a glorified security-guard position. I think in the four years I worked there I did about six investigations...."