Romulus Augustus

Romulus Augustus (475-476 CE) is considered by historians to have been the Last Roman Emperor in the West.

1. BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

NAME:
- Flavius Romulus Augustus
- His nickname was Augustulus.
ROMULUS AUGUSTUS’ DATES OF REIGN AS EMPEROR:
- From 31 October 475 CE to 4 September 476 CE.
ROMULUS AUGUSTUS’ DATE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
- Born: 460 CE. Died: sometime after 476 CE.
PLACE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
- Place of birth unknown. Place of death unknown.
ROMULUS AUGUSTUS’ PREDECESSOR:
- Julius Nepos
ROMULUS AUGUSTUS’ SUCCESSOR:
- Odoacer
HEIR TO THE THRONE BECAUSE:
- His father Orestes, proclaimed him Emperor.
DIED PEACEFULLY OR ASSASSINATED:
- Unknown.
WHERE BURIED:
- Unknown.
ROMULUS AUGUSTUS WAS FAMOUS BECAUSE:
- Romulus Augustus was the last Roman Emperor in the West.

On 28 August 475 CE, the Magister Militum, Orestes, deposed Julius Nepos. Orestes then proclaimed his fifteen year old son, Romulus Augustus, Emperor.
Julius Nepos moved to Dalmatia where he continued to rule as Emperor for four years, until 480 CE.
On 4 September 476 CE, Odoacer, the Commander of the German Guards in Italia, captured Ravenna, killed Orestes and deposed Romulus Augustus.
Historians consider Romulus Augustus to have been the last Western Roman Emperor, although technically, Julius Nepos continued using the legal Title of Roman Emperor until his assassination four years later in 480 CE.

457-486 CE: The Kingdom of Soissons, also known as the Kingdom of the Romans.
Aegidius was appointed Magister Militum of Gaul in 457 CE and ruled independently of Ricimer from 461-c.464 CE. He resisted the Franks to the east and the Visigoths to the south.
His son Syagrius ruled until c.464-486 CE, when he was defeated at the Battle of Soissons by the Franks under Clovis I, who then ruled all the former Gallia Belgica.

CLASSICAL SOURCES:
- Edward Gibbon
  - History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire