Flavius Romulus Augustus - so loudly called the father, military commander Orestes from Pannonia, his son in the hope that a bright future awaits him. Life, however, turned everything in its own way. Romulus Augustulus is not the great Augustus, but the small "August". That is what his contemporaries called him with derision. He remained for centuries as the last emperor, who was overthrown by the leader of the Germanic barbarian tribe Odoacer in 476. Historians later took this date as the beginning of the Middle Ages.
Origin
Romulus Augustulus came from a noble patrician family. His father was Flavius Orestes, and his mother Norica was the daughter of the chief Roman officer Romulus.
He was born in the early 60s of the fifth century. At this time, Rome was on the verge of falling. Under the pressure of the barbarians, everything was cracking at the seams. The victories were only remembered, and the life of contemporaries literally collapsed under the pressure of the northern barbarians, who, in turn, fled to fertile provinces, where there were beautiful lands, from attacks from the east. The military commander Marcellinus perceived the attacks of vandals and barbarians as a personal tragedy, but served, however, Atilla and left interesting notes. Attila also served as the father of RomulusAugustus, but, having raised an uprising, captured the capital of the empire. At that time, she was no longer in Rome, but in Ravenna.
Ascension to the throne
The reasons why Flavius Orestes did not become emperor, and in 475 appointed him a young teenage son, are unknown. But he personally ruled the subject lands. Ironically, the boy not only connected the two great names Romulus (the founder of Rome) and Augustus (the first emperor), but also disgraced his fellow tribesmen. No one wanted to recognize him as an emperor.
Romulus Augustulus as the ruler, as we have already said, was only nominal, although gold coins (solids) with his profile were issued. The attacking parties (wild tribes) demanded the allocation of land to them. They were refused, and a rebellion arose towards the end of the tenth month of the reign of the young emperor. Romulus Augustulus did not even have the funds to pay for the services of putting down the rebellion. The Roman army was poorly financed, and the soldiers ceased to obey and protect the emperor.
The Decline of an Empire
The soldiers chose the German Odoacer as their leader. The troops under his command captured the father of Romulus and executed him. The infant emperor Romulus Augustulus abdicated in 476. His place was quickly taken by the basil of the eastern empire, Zenon, and the leader of the Germans became his official representative in the West. Formally, the Eastern and Western empires were a country. It lasted until 480, until Julius Nepos was killed in Dalmatia. He was deposed by the father of Romulus as early as 475. And after his death, Odoacer sent the imperial insignia toConstantinople, making a gesture to the barbarian - "Take it, we don't need it." The Western Empire is gone. But Constantinople (Eastern Empire) remained, which, in spite of everything, strove for integrity. He held out for another thousand years.
The fate of Romulus after his abdication
There is confusing information about her. It is assumed that Romulus Augustulus received a pension of six thousand solidi from Odoacer because he was young and handsome. He was sent into exile. He received for residence the palace of Lucullus (that very famous gourmet who gave magnificent feasts) in Campania, in the Naples region. Relatives and retinue of Romulus remained with him. All sources agree on one opinion that the last emperor Romulus Augustulus lived in the palace of Lucullus. However, his further life is not described by anyone.
No one left any information about how he lived and died. There are vague suggestions that in 507 he was still alive. There are only guesses and judgments that Romulus founded a monastery near the palace. There are references to it even in the 10th century. In all likelihood, the former emperor, forgotten by everyone, died before the reunification of the Eastern Empire with the Western by the middle of the 6th century. A movie was made about him in 2007 called The Last Legion.
