Alea iacta est

is a Latin phrase meaning "The die is cast". It is a variation of the words spoken by Julius Caesar at the crossing of the Rubicon on 10 January 49 BC. The phrase, referring to a game of chance played with dice, indicates that events have passed a point of no return and the outcome is uncertain.

The Rubicon river in northern Italy marked the southern boundary of Caesar's province of Cisalpine Gaul and therefore the extent of his (the legal right to command troops). By leading his soldiers across the river, Caesar was defying a direct order from the Roman Senate and beginning a civil war.

The ancient historian Suetonius reports that Caesar actually said (), which has the same English translation. Plutarch states that Caesar was speaking in Greek: (), literally "let a die be cast", metaphorically "let the game be played". Suetonius's Latin version is a statement about the inevitability of what is to come, while the Greek version contains a self-encouragement to venture forward. The Greek version is probably a quotation from a play by Menander; the historian Arrian states that it was already well known.

The Latin version is the most commonly cited in modern sources, but with the word order changed to . It is used both untranslated or translated in many languages. The related phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has become an idiom with closely related meaning.

Origin and forms

The phrase probably originated with the ancient Greek playwright Menander, in his comedic play (, ). The full text of that play has been lost, but a short dialogue from it has been preserved in quotation by Athenaeus. The dialogue uses the phrase to refer to a marriage that has been agreed but not yet performed. Caesar was fluent in Greek and considered Menander a great playwright.

The crossing of the Rubicon is described by Plutarch in Parallel Lives, written in Greek over a century after the events. He explicitly reports that Caesar spoke in Greek, but does not mention Menander:

Appian wrote a history of Caesar's civil war, also in Greek around the same time as Plutarch was writing. He reports a very similar phrase and asserts that it was already well-known. However he does not indicate which language Caesar was speaking:

The Roman historian Suetonius was a contemporary of Plutarch and Appian. He wrote a biography of Caesar in Latin, and reports the phrase in Latin:

The Latin word refers to a game with dice, or more generally to a game of hazard or chance. Dice were common in Roman times and were usually thrown three at a time. There were two common forms: six-sided dice known and four-sided dice known as . In Ancient Greek the word for a single die was ..

Alea iacta est

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