HomeEurope4 September 476 – Germanic leader Odoacer captures Ravenna, deposes Emperor Romulus Augustus, and proclaims himself “King of Italy”, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
4 September 476 – Germanic leader Odoacer captures Ravenna, deposes Emperor Romulus Augustus, and proclaims himself “King of Italy”, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
September 4, 2024
4 September 476 – Germanic leader Odoacer captures Ravenna, deposes Emperor Romulus Augustus, and proclaims himself “King of Italy”, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
https://i.redd.it/osvgf3n2xpmd1.png
by tllon
14 comments
Romulus Augustulus (little Augustus) is known to history as the last of the Western Roman emperors (475–476). In fact, he was a usurper and puppet not recognized as a legitimate ruler by the Eastern emperor.
Romulus was the son of the Western empire’s master of soldiers Orestes. His original surname was Augustus, but it was changed to the diminutive because he was still a child when his father, after driving the Western emperor Julius Nepos from Italy, elevated him to the throne on 31 October 475.
For about 12 months Orestes ruled Italy in his son’s name, but eventually his troops mutinied and found a leader in the German warrior Odoacer. Odoacer’s forces captured and executed Orestes on 28 August 476. Then the Roman Senate sent the imperial insignia to the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno.
Romulus, however, was spared because of his youth; Odoacer gave him a pension and sent him to live with his relatives in Campania, a region of southern Italy. His subsequent fate is unknown.
A comment by Cassiodorus may suggest that he survived until the rule of Theoderic (ad 493–526).
And we are still trying to fix it one and a half millennium later – thanks, Odoacer! 😒
My beloved rome
Good up-do but he needs to cut back on the lip filler. Angelina Jolie?
Considering how dysfunctional Rome was by that point, it was for the best. Archeology (average height etc) shows that people were living better lives after Rome fell.
Others also proclaimed him the king of porn mustaches .
The title makes it sound like the ruler of Rome was seated in Ravenna – was he? And if yes, how come?
The city of Rome actually remained relatively highly populated (100.000+) for the next decades and the Germanic kings even tried to maintain the city and some Roman traditions. The total collapse came when the eastern Roman emperor Justinian tried to reconquer Italy. The city was sacked multiple times by both Romans and Goths and also devastated by the Justinian plague
Then it took almost another 1000 years before Ottomans finally took Constantiopole and with it the last remnant of once great Roman empire.
To put it to perpesctive – USA is about 300 years old. Roman empire as we know it from many media lasted for at least 600 years +
Those were the days!!!
I love how the go to move back then was minting. “Gonna get me on a coin. Everybody will love me on a coin.”
Julius Nepos, the actual last Western Emperor, ruled until 480 in Dalmatia. Also, Odoacer did recognise the Imperial authority in Constantinople and ruled as a vassal of the Emperor, ensuring the continuity of Roman government and governance.
Not with a bang but with a sigh
Had the Romans been less xenophobic they would have just crowned Odoacer Emperor and the WRE would have continued.
14 comments
Romulus Augustulus (little Augustus) is known to history as the last of the Western Roman emperors (475–476). In fact, he was a usurper and puppet not recognized as a legitimate ruler by the Eastern emperor.
Romulus was the son of the Western empire’s master of soldiers Orestes. His original surname was Augustus, but it was changed to the diminutive because he was still a child when his father, after driving the Western emperor Julius Nepos from Italy, elevated him to the throne on 31 October 475.
For about 12 months Orestes ruled Italy in his son’s name, but eventually his troops mutinied and found a leader in the German warrior Odoacer. Odoacer’s forces captured and executed Orestes on 28 August 476. Then the Roman Senate sent the imperial insignia to the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno.
Romulus, however, was spared because of his youth; Odoacer gave him a pension and sent him to live with his relatives in Campania, a region of southern Italy. His subsequent fate is unknown.
A comment by Cassiodorus may suggest that he survived until the rule of Theoderic (ad 493–526).
And we are still trying to fix it one and a half millennium later – thanks, Odoacer! 😒
My beloved rome
Good up-do but he needs to cut back on the lip filler. Angelina Jolie?
Considering how dysfunctional Rome was by that point, it was for the best.
Archeology (average height etc) shows that people were living better lives after Rome fell.
Others also proclaimed him the king of porn mustaches .
The title makes it sound like the ruler of Rome was seated in Ravenna – was he? And if yes, how come?
The city of Rome actually remained relatively highly populated (100.000+) for the next decades and the Germanic kings even tried to maintain the city and some Roman traditions. The total collapse came when the eastern Roman emperor Justinian tried to reconquer Italy. The city was sacked multiple times by both Romans and Goths and also devastated by the Justinian plague
Then it took almost another 1000 years before Ottomans finally took Constantiopole and with it the last remnant of once great Roman empire.
To put it to perpesctive – USA is about 300 years old. Roman empire as we know it from many media lasted for at least 600 years +
Those were the days!!!
I love how the go to move back then was minting. “Gonna get me on a coin. Everybody will love me on a coin.”
Julius Nepos, the actual last Western Emperor, ruled until 480 in Dalmatia.
Also, Odoacer did recognise the Imperial authority in Constantinople and ruled as a vassal of the Emperor, ensuring the continuity of Roman government and governance.
Not with a bang but with a sigh
Had the Romans been less xenophobic they would have just crowned Odoacer Emperor and the WRE would have continued.