Romulus Augustulus: the western throne and the government that remained
Romulus Augustulus lost his throne in Italy in 476, when the military leader Odoacer removed him and sent him to Campania with an allowance. The deposition is conventionally used to mark the end of the Western Roman Empire. It did not end imperial government at Constantinople. Nor did it abolish every Roman institution in Italy: the Senate continued, officials remained at work, and Odoacer governed as a king within a political order still shaped by Rome. The transition joined a change of ruler to substantial administrative continuity.
Romulus's position had depended on his father, Orestes. The eastern emperor Leo had appointed Julius Nepos to rule in the West. Nepos in turn made Orestes commander of his army. In 475, Orestes turned against him, driving Nepos out of Italy. Instead of taking the imperial title himself, Orestes installed his young son. The new emperor's reign therefore rested on his father's command of the troops. Nepos remained alive outside Italy, and his claim complicated the legitimacy of the regime that replaced him.
The soldiers who had supported Orestes demanded land as a reward for their service and as compensation for unpaid obligations. They sought a third of Italy's land, much of it already occupied. Orestes refused. Odoacer offered to secure what they wanted and won their allegiance. The resulting rebellion overturned Orestes's control. After Odoacer established military supremacy, he deposed Romulus Augustulus on September 4, 476. The young ruler's removal ended the brief regime created by his father's earlier rebellion.
The Senate approved Odoacer's leadership and sent a message to Zeno, the emperor in the East. Its senators argued that there was no need for a separate western emperor and that Italy could be governed by a king while Constantinople retained imperial authority. Zeno's response invoked Julius Nepos and called for his restoration. Odoacer did not bring him back, but Nepos remained a recognized claimant until his death in 480. The deposition of Romulus and the extinction of Nepos's claim were separate events.
Odoacer distributed land to his soldiers and ruled Italy until 493. He retained Roman practices of government and worked with the Senate. Despite his own Arian Christian faith, he maintained generally cooperative relations with the Catholic establishment. His authority also depended on relations with the eastern court, whose recognition mattered even while it lacked direct control over Italy. Political tension increased as Odoacer expanded his influence. Zeno eventually encouraged the Ostrogothic leader Theodoric to move into Italy against him.
Odoacer acquired Sicily through a treaty with the Vandals in October 476. After Julius Nepos’s death in 480, he also annexed Dalmatia on the eastern Adriatic coast. Theodoric replaced Odoacer in 493 and ruled until 526. Italy passed from one military monarchy to another while remaining connected to Roman administration and culture. In the following century, the eastern emperor Justinian attempted to recover the peninsula. His reconquest restored imperial control for a time, but Lombard settlement and conquest from 568 again changed the political map. The events after Romulus Augustulus therefore involved successive governments of Italy, rather than an uninhabited interval between Roman antiquity and the medieval kingdoms.
Ravenna preserves material traces of those successive regimes. It became the western imperial capital in 402 and remained a center under the Ostrogoths and then Byzantine government. Fifth-century monuments include the Neonian Baptistery, with marble, stucco, and mosaics, and the building known as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Under Theodoric, the Arian Baptistery and Sant'Apollinare Nuovo added further decorated religious spaces. Their mosaics combine Roman artistic traditions with forms associated with the eastern Mediterranean, while the buildings served communities divided by religious allegiance.
Theodoric's own mausoleum was constructed from large blocks of Istrian stone. The Archiepiscopal Chapel represented the city's orthodox Christian community during his reign. Under Justinian, San Vitale brought another major building campaign, combining eastern and western architectural traditions. Sant'Apollinare in Classe, outside Ravenna, added an imposing basilica with rich marble and mosaic decoration. These fifth- and sixth-century monuments display continuing patronage through changes of political authority. Ravenna's importance survived the disappearance of the western imperial court that had first made it a capital.
The eastern Roman provinces continued under emperors long after 476. The state now commonly called Byzantine survived until the Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453. Its endurance gives the deposition of Romulus Augustulus a specific geographical meaning: a western throne changed hands while another Roman government remained. In Italy itself, senators, royal officials, church patrons, soldiers, and builders continued working under new rulers. The surviving monuments of Ravenna belong to that extended transformation of the Roman world.
- World History Encyclopedia, Joshua J. Mark, Odoacer — www.worldhistory.org
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Roman Empire (27 BCE–393 CE) — www.metmuseum.org
- UNESCO, Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna — whc.unesco.org
- World History Encyclopedia, Michael Arnheim, Continuity and Change after the Fall of the Roman Empire — www.worldhistory.org