Over two thousand years ago, Julius Cesar, a young Roman general was on his way home to his home city of Rome after a successful and glorious campaign in northern Europe when he received a strange letter.

It was signed by a host of Roman senators and demanded that he remain north of the Rubicon River, fearing that he might use his military popularity to take control of the city-state.

Julius Cesar was not one to be told what to do. Defying the senators, he commanded his forces to do just what the established powers feared. He crossed the Rubicon, muttering alea, iacta est, or “the die is cast,” and descended upon Rome, and declared himself the first emperor of the Roman Empire.

Though he was later stabbed in the back by many of the senators he defied, his actions began what would prove to be the mightiest realm the world had ever known. It would extend as far North as the British Isles, swallow up every section of Mediterranean coastline and reach as far East as Arabia.

The period of peace achieved in western civilization at the time allowed for incredible strides in technology, science, the arts, and state building. Many of the roads and aqueducts built by the Romans are still in use today. After the fall of Rome, it would take European society centuries to attain the heights of civilization known under the Romans.

One might argue that, without the Romans, the world would look incredibly different today. To pay tribute to these titans of a former age, many choose to wear the Roman Statue tattoo. It symbolizes mankind at its best, organized and able to achieve incredible progress.