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84-510: Initially settled by the Umbri people, Ravenna came under Roman Republic control in 89 BC. Octavian built the military harbor of Classis at Ravenna, and the city remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages . The city prospered under imperial rule. In 401, Western Roman emperor Honorius moved his court from Mediolanum to Ravenna; it then served as capital of

168-516: A Roman citizen from Pannonia and sparse information on his immediate family. Orestes' father was a Pannonian Roman officer by the name of Tatulus, and Tatulus had at least one other son, Paulus, who served as a comes . The name of Romulus' mother is not known, but it might have been Barbaria. The name Barbaria, otherwise rarely attested, may derive either from the gens (family) Barbii, attested in Roman Pannonia, or it may simply be

252-454: A former emperor. If the Romulus in the letter is the same person as Romulus Augustulus, it is possible that the letter indicates that Romulus and his family had to renegotiate their financial arrangements and pension with the king because they had been drawn up under the reign of a different king. Given that Romulus is not mentioned in accounts of the later eastern Roman invasion of Italy in

336-745: A league of Romagna cities against the Emperor, and the Pope was able to subdue it. After the war of 1218 the Traversari family was able to impose its rule in the city, which lasted until 1240. After a short period under an Imperial vicar, Ravenna was returned to the Papal States in 1248 and again to the Traversari until, in 1275, the Da Polenta established their long-lasting seigniory. One of

420-582: A religious position named kvestur (cognate to or a borrowing of Latin Quaestor ). The Umbrian social structure was divided into distinct groups probably based upon military rank. During the reign of Augustus , four Umbrian aristocrats became senators. Emperor Nerva ’s family was from Umbria. According to Guy Jolyon Bradley, " The religious sites of the region have been thought to reveal a society dominated by agricultural and pastoral concerns, to which town life came late in comparison to Etruria." Throughout

504-493: A role in founding a monastery at castellum Lucullanum in the 480s or 490s, dedicated to Saint Severinus of Noricum . Romulus could have been alive as late as 507 or 511 when Theodoric the Great , Odoacer's successor, wrote a letter to a "Romulus" concerning a pension. Romulus was likely dead before the mid-540s, as accounts of the eastern Roman invasion of Italy at that time do not mention him. Romulus Augustus' birth name

588-636: A situation similar to Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the Po River Delta, but later accepted it into the Roman Republic as a federated town in 89 BC . In 49 BC, it was where Julius Caesar gathered his forces before crossing the Rubicon . Later Octavian , after his battle against Mark Antony in 31 BC, founded the military harbor of Classis . This harbor, protected at first by its own walls,

672-496: A town to the south of Ravenna. The beaches of Ravenna hosted the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup , in September 2011. Umbri The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria . Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on easily defensible hilltops. Umbria

756-574: Is also celebrated in Jessup, PA, a town with a large number of immigrants from the Gubbio area, as Saint Ubaldo Day . While we have little direct information about ancient Umbrian political structure, it is fairly clear that two men held the supreme magistracy of uhtur and were responsible for supervising rituals. Other civic offices included the marone , which had a lower status than uhtur (closely related to Latin auctor whence English "author"), and

840-544: Is also likely that the move to Ravenna was due to the city's port and good sea-borne connections to the Eastern Roman Empire . In 409, King Alaric I of the Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, and went on to sack Rome in 410 and to take Galla Placidia , daughter of Emperor Theodosius I , hostage. After many vicissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III , due to

924-405: Is believed that Romulus' mother, and thus perhaps her immediate family, were, like Orestes, from Roman Pannonia. It is possible that Romulus Augustus had older siblings, especially given that Romulus was born several years after the marriage of his parents. In ancient Rome, it was customary for the eldest son to be named after his father. That Romulus was not named Orestes thus indicates that he

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1008-413: Is not known. It is possible that Orestes was waiting for some form of formal recognition or response from emperor Zeno in the east, which never came. Romulus would throughout his brief ten-month reign be little more than a figurehead, with his father, who retained the position of magister militum , actually running much of the imperial administration. Zeno never recognised the rule of Romulus as emperor in

1092-494: Is typically regarded as the last Western Roman emperor, his deposition marking the end of the Western Roman Empire as a political entity . The deposition of Romulus Augustulus is also sometimes used by historians to mark the transition from antiquity to the medieval period . Very few records survive of Romulus's reign. There are no known policies, laws or inscriptions of significance of the emperor, which leaves

1176-455: The foederati defeated and killed Orestes and deposed Romulus, whereafter Odoacer became the first King of Italy and accepted Emperor Zeno as his nominal superior. Romulus's life was spared by Odoacer, and he was allowed to retire to the castellum Lucullanum , a great fortress in Campania . Little certain information is known concerning Romulus's life in exile. He might have played

1260-501: The Ebro valley, attempting to claim imperial authority: Burdunellus (496) and Petrus (506). Romulus Augustus being identified as the last emperor of the western empire is a tradition that began already among eastern Roman historians and writers in the early 6th century. The earliest known writer to consider him as such was Marcellinus Comes (died c. 534), who wrote the following passage concerning Romulus: The western Empire of

1344-682: The Lombards and the Suebi , among the tribes of Northern Europe in the poem Widsith . Pliny the Elder wrote concerning the folk-etymology of the name: The Umbrian people are thought the oldest in Italy; they are believed to have been called Ombrii (here, "the people of the thunderstorm," after ὅμβρος, "thunderstorm") by the Greeks because they survived the deluge (literally "the inundation of

1428-608: The Papal States until the mid-19th century when it was incorporated into the newly unified Kingdom of Italy . Although it is an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal . It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, with eight buildings comprising the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna". Because of

1512-650: The Second Punic War . The Praetorian Guard recruited from Etruria and Umbria. The Umbri played a minor role in the Social War and as a result were granted citizenship in 90 BC. Roman veterans were settled in Umbria during the reign of Augustus. The Umbrians descend from the culture of Terni , protohistoric facies of southern Umbria. The towns of Chianciano and Clusium (Umbrian: Camars ) near modern Arezzo contain traces of Umbrian habitation dating to

1596-646: The Teatro Alighieri while concerts take place at the Palazzo Mauro de André as well as in the ancient Basilica of San Vitale and Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe . Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti , a longtime resident of the city, regularly participates in the festival, which invites orchestras and other performers from around the world. Michelangelo Antonioni filmed his 1964 movie Red Desert ( Deserto Rosso ) within

1680-583: The Umbri presence in Ravenna at least to the 5th century BC, where it was undisturbed until the 3rd century BC, when first contact with Roman civilization began. Its territory was settled also by the Senones , especially the southern countryside of the city (that was not part of the lagoon), the Ager Decimanus . Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of small islands in a marshy lagoon –

1764-488: The castellum Lucullanum (today called Castel dell'Ovo ), originally built by the consul and general Lucius Licinius Lucullus in the 60s BC. Castellum Lucullanum had once served as the retirement villa of Tiberius ( r.   14–37), Rome's second emperor. By late antiquity, castellum Lucullanum must have been fortified, and it likely functioned as a small administrative and military centre in Campania. Romulus

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1848-547: The foederati was Odoacer , a barbarian officer of undetermined tribal affiliation. Orestes had once worked alongside Odoacer's father Edeko at the court of Attila. On 28 August 476, Odoacer defeated Orestes in battle at Ticinum , captured him and had him executed. On 4 September, Odoacer captured Ravenna, killing Orestes' deputy and brother Paulus during the fighting. Romulus was captured and deposed, whereafter Odoacer assumed control of Italy as its first king. Odoacer sent Romulus' western imperial regalia to emperor Zeno in

1932-483: The orthodox Christian Byzantine Emperor Justinian I opposed both Ostrogoth rule and the Arian variety of Christianity. In 535 his general Belisarius invaded Italy and in 540 conquered Ravenna. After the conquest of Italy was completed in 554, Ravenna became the seat of Byzantine government in Italy. From 540 to 600, Ravenna's bishops embarked upon a notable building program of churches in Ravenna and in and around

2016-402: The 5th century, the western empire experienced a period of catastrophic decline. Not only were many of the rulers in the west generally lacking in competence, but they also faced enormous problems. In comparison with the eastern provinces, much of the west was more rural, with fewer people and a less stable economy. An increasing number of Germanic barbarian invasions and settlements throughout

2100-636: The 7th or 8th centuries BC. Terni (in Latin: Interamna Nahars ) was the first important Umbrian center. Its population was called with the name of Umbri Naharti . They were the largest, organized and belligerent tribe of the Umbrians and populated compactly across the basin of Nera River. This people is quoted 8 times in the Iguvine Tablets. Their importance is confirmed not only by the Iguvine Tablets and Latin historians, and by

2184-504: The 9th-4th centuries BC, imported goods from Greece and Etruria were common, as well as the production of local pottery. The Romans first made contact with Umbria in 310 BC and settled Latin colonies there in 299 BC, 268 BC and 241 BC. They had completed their conquest of Umbria by approximately 260 BC. The Via Flaminia linking areas of Umbria was complete by 220 BC. Cities in Umbria also contributed troops to Rome for its many wars. Umbrians fought under Scipio Africanus in 205 BC during

2268-717: The British 27th Lancers entered and liberated Ravenna. A total of 937 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the winter of 1944–45 are buried in Ravenna War Cemetery, including 438 Canadians. Eight early Christian buildings of Ravenna are inscribed on the World Heritage List . These are Other historic sites include: The city annually hosts the Ravenna Festival , one of Italy's prominent classical music gatherings. Opera performances are held at

2352-866: The Byzantines. In 751, the Lombard king, Aistulf , conquered Ravenna, thus ending Byzantine rule in northern Italy. King Pepin of the Franks attacked the Lombards under orders of Pope Stephen II . Ravenna then gradually came under the direct authority of the Popes , although this was contested by the archbishops at various times. Pope Adrian I authorized Charlemagne to take away anything from Ravenna that he liked, and an unknown quantity of Roman columns, mosaics , statues, and other portable items were taken north to enrich his capital of Aachen . In 1198 Ravenna led

2436-617: The Celtic peoples, per se, has been found. Livy suggested that the Insubres , another Gaulish tribe, might be connected; their Celtic name Isombres could possibly mean "Lower Umbrians," or inhabitants of the country below Umbria. Similarly Roman historian Cato the Elder , in his masterpiece Origines , defines the Gauls as "the progenitors of the Umbri". The Ambrones are also mentioned, with

2520-609: The Latins, who were largely Catholic Orthodox. Ravenna's Orthodox bishops carried out notable building projects, of which the sole surviving one is the Cappella Arcivescovile . Theodoric allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law and the Roman judicial system. The Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs. In 519, when a mob had burned down the synagogues of Ravenna, Theodoric ordered

2604-505: The Roman people, which first began in the seven hundred and ninth year after the founding of the City with Octavian Augustus, the first of the emperors, perished with this Augustulus, in the five-hundred and twenty-second year of the reign of Augustus' successor emperors. From this point on Gothic kings held power in Rome. Later Eastern Roman authors continued to regard him as the last emperor of

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2688-605: The area which saw the emergence of the Terni culture, which had strong similarities with the Celtic-speaking cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène . The Umbrian necropolis of Terni , which dates back to the 10th century BC, was virtually identical in every aspect to the Celtic necropolis of the Golasecca culture . During the 6th–4th centuries BC, Umbrian communities constructed rural sanctuaries in which they sacrificed to

2772-600: The beginning of the 2nd century. During the Marcomannic Wars , Germanic settlers in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city. For this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there. In AD 401, Emperor Honorius transferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Mediolanum (current Milan) to Ravenna; it subsequently served as

2856-487: The capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Theodoric, following his imperial predecessors, also built many splendid buildings in and around Ravenna, including his palace church Sant'Apollinare Nuovo , an Arian cathedral (now Santo Spirito) and Baptistery, and his own Mausoleum just outside the walls. Both Odoacer and Theodoric and their followers were Arian Christians, but co-existed peacefully with

2940-459: The capital of the empire for most of the 5th century and the last de facto western emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed there in AD 476. At that time it was home to 50,000 people. The transfer was made partly for defensive purposes: Ravenna was surrounded by swamps and marshes, and was perceived to be easily defensible (although in fact the city fell to opposing forces numerous times in its history); it

3024-527: The city was founded by Dardanus in 847 BC. Perugia and Orvieto are not considered of Umbrian but Etruscan origin. According to the geographical distribution of the Umbrian territory, they are located on the left side of the Tiber River, which is part of the ancient Etruria. Umbri were on the opposite side of the river. According to the map of Regio Umbria and Ager Galliucus by Emperor Augustus ,

3108-460: The death of emperor Theodosius I ( r.   379–395) in 395 onwards. Though modern historians typically use the terms Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire to describe the new political situation, the Romans themselves never considered the empire to have been formally divided, still viewing it as a single unit, although most often having two rulers rather than one. Over the course of

3192-479: The distinction of patrician, he also urged the king to accept Julius Nepos back as emperor in Italy. Though Odoacer nominally accepted Nepos as his sovereign, minting coins in his name, Nepos was never able to reoccupy Italy. Odoacer spared the life of the young Romulus on account of his "youth and beauty". Romulus was granted an annual pension of 6,000 solidi (the normal income of a wealthy Roman senator) and granted an estate in Campania near Naples called

3276-513: The east, and swore allegiance to him, ruling without further imperial successors in the west. According to the 5th-century Eastern Roman writer and historian Malchus , Odoacer may have forced Romulus himself, as his last official act as emperor, to send the imperial regalia and a "letter of resignation" to Zeno, writing that the Roman Empire from this point only required a single emperor, ruling from Constantinople . Though Zeno granted Odoacer

3360-611: The empire for most of the 5th century. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ravenna became the capital of Odoacer until he was defeated by the Ostrogoth king Theodoric . In 540, Belisarius conquered Ravenna for the Byzantine Empire , and the city became the capital of Byzantine Italy. After a brief Lombard control, Ravenna came under the authority of the Papacy and, save for minor interruptions, remained part of

3444-409: The feminine version of the name Barbarius , attested from a few Roman individuals in southern Gaul. Another hypothesis identifies Romulus' mother as Flavia Serena. Romulus' maternal grandfather was a comes , also by the name of Romulus, attested as alive in 449, when he was sent on an embassy to Attila by the general Aetius . Orestes and Romulus Augustus' mother married at some point before 449. It

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3528-418: The gods. Bronze votives shaped as animals or deities were also offered. Umbrian deities include Feronia , Valentia, Minerva Matusia and Clitumnus . The Iguvine Tablets were discovered in 1444 at Scheggia , near Gubbio , Italy. Composed during the 2nd or 3rd centuries BC, they describe religious rituals involving animal sacrifice. The ancient sanctuary to Venus (or her Umbrian equivalent) at Hispellum

3612-509: The grievances of his troops, among other things learning that Nepos had refused requests for land grants, Orestes betrayed the emperor's orders and marched on Ravenna , the capital of the western empire. On 28 August 475, Orestes entered Ravenna with his army and Nepos escaped across the Adriatic Sea to Salona in Dalmatia . There is little surviving concrete evidence in regards to Romulus' ancestry beyond Orestes being known to have been

3696-521: The high concentration of mosaics, the city has been associated with workshops and schools teaching mosaics, and is often given titles like the "capital of mosaics". The origin of the name Ravenna is unclear. Some have speculated that "Ravenna" is related to "Rasenna" (or "Rasna"), the term that the Etruscans used for themselves, but there is no agreement on this point. The origins of Ravenna are uncertain. The oldest archaeological evidence found dates

3780-430: The hub of Bologna; on the north–south axis of EU routes E45 (from Rome) and E55 (SS-309 "Romea" from Venice); and on the regional Ferrara-Rimini axis of SS-16 (partially called "Adriatica"). Ravenna is twinned with: The traditional football club of the city is Ravenna F.C. Currently it plays in the fourth tier of Italian football, Serie D . A.P.D. Ribelle 1927 is the football club of Castiglione di Ravenna,

3864-469: The important and privileged role played by this city in Roman times, but also by the discovery, at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, of one of the larger mixed burial necropoleis (Urnfield culture and burial fields) in Europe, about 3000 tombs (Necropoli delle Acciaierie di Terni). Assisi , called Asisium by the Romans, was an ancient Umbrian site on a spur of Mount Subasio . Myth relates that

3948-489: The impression that he was a shadowy and relatively inconsequential figure. The nickname "Augustulus" means "little Augustus " and was a derisive reference to his young age. Romulus's immediate family, including his father and possibly his mother, and maybe both his paternal and maternal grandparents, were from the Roman province of Pannonia , and many of his family members had military backgrounds. Romulus came to power through

4032-471: The industrialised areas of the Pialassa valley. Ravenna has an important commercial and tourist port . Ravenna railway station has direct Trenitalia service to Bologna , Ferrara , Lecce , Milan , Parma , Rimini , and Verona . Ravenna Airport is located in Ravenna. The nearest commercial airports are those of Forlì , Rimini and Bologna . Freeways crossing Ravenna include: A14-bis from

4116-752: The lands by thunderstorms, imbribus ). The Etruscans vanquished 300 Umbrian cities. Ancient Greek historians considered the Umbri as the ancestors of the Sabellian people, namely the Sabines and the Samnites , and the tribes which sprung from them, as the Marsi , Marrucini , Peligni , Picentes , Hirpini , and others. Their expansion was in a southward direction, according to the rite of Ver Sacrum . Lepontic inscriptions have also been found in Umbria , in

4200-427: The last Western Roman emperor, or even the last Roman emperor overall, with his deposition seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire as a political entity. The deposition of Romulus is also one of the most commonly used dates by historians to mark the transition from antiquity to the medieval period . Romulus being seen as the last emperor over other contenders derives not only from Romulus having been

4284-462: The last emperor proclaimed in the west, but also from the poetic nature of being named after both Romulus , the founder of Rome, and Augustus , the first Roman emperor. Many historians have noted the coincidence that the last emperor combined the names of both the city's founder and the first emperor. In The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , Gibbon wrote that "the appellations of

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4368-407: The least significant" of the short-lived emperors near the end of the Western Roman Empire. When not seen as only inconsequential, opinions by historians on Romulus Augustus have been negative. In The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–1788), Edward Gibbon wrote that he "assumed and disgraced the names of Romulus [and] Augustus". Romulus Augustus is typically regarded as

4452-420: The letter in 1886, the identification of Romulus in the letter as Romulus Augustus is strengthened by the name "Romulus" by this point not being very common and by the letter not giving the Romulus in question any titles or honorifics. The absence of titles differentiates the letter from the vast majority of other letters preserved from Theodoric, as if neither the king nor his scribe were quite sure how to address

4536-403: The major Umbrian city-states were: Terni , Todi , Amelia and Spoleto (the current part of southern Umbria). A 2020 analysis of maternal haplogroups from ancient and modern samples indicated a substantial genetic similarity among the modern inhabitants of Umbria and the area's ancient pre-Roman inhabitants, and evidence of substantial genetic continuity in the region from pre-Roman times to

4620-418: The mid-530s, he had likely died some time before the conflict. Romulus may have played a role in founding a monastery around the remains of Saint Severinus of Noricum at castellum Lucullanum in the 480s or early 490s. A Roman noblewoman by the name of Barbaria, possibly Romulus' mother, also aided in founding the monastery. This monastery became prominent under Pope Gregory I ( r.   590–604) and

4704-825: The most illustrious residents of Ravenna at this time was the exiled Florentine poet Dante . The last of the Da Polenta, Ostasio III , was ousted by the Republic of Venice in February 1441, and the city was annexed to the Venetian territories in the Treaty of Cremona . Ravenna was ruled by Venice until 1509, when the area was invaded in the course of the Italian Wars . In 1512, during the Holy League wars, Ravenna

4788-508: The most powerful barbarian generals, such as Ricimer ( c. 418–472), became politically dominant, ruling through proclaiming puppet emperors . In the twenty years between the death of Valentinian and the accession of Romulus Augustus, eight different emperors ruled in the west. By 475, the western empire was in critical condition. Outside of Italy, authority was only exercised in Raetia and some regions of Gaul . The ruling emperor in 475

4872-506: The name might be a different way of writing the name of a northern European tribe, the Ambrones , and that both ethnonyms were cognate with "King of the Boii ". However, both Greek and Roman scholars sometimes conflated Celtic and Germanic peoples. The historical Ambrones originated in or around Jutland , were apparently a Germanic-speaking people, and no evidence that they had a connection to

4956-493: The nickname Momylus ("little disgrace"). By the time of emperor Diocletian ( r.   284–305), the idea that the Roman Empire had grown so large that it would be better managed by two co-ruling emperors, rather than one, had become established. After various divisions were made throughout the 4th century, the empire was firmly and permanently divided into a western and eastern sphere of imperial administration from

5040-693: The port city of Classe. Surviving monuments include the Basilica of San Vitale and the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe , as well as the partially surviving San Michele in Africisco. Following the conquests of Belisarius for Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, Ravenna became the seat of the Byzantine governor of Italy, the Exarch , and was known as the Exarchate of Ravenna . It

5124-439: The possibility of flooding and creating a large belt of agricultural land around the city. Apart from another short occupation by Venice (1527–1529), Ravenna was part of the Papal States until 1796, when it was annexed to the French puppet state of the Cisalpine Republic ( Italian Republic from 1802, and Kingdom of Italy from 1805). It was returned to the Papal States in 1814. Occupied by Piedmontese troops in 1859, Ravenna and

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5208-512: The present with regard to mitochondrial DNA . Both modern and ancient Umbrians were found to have high rates of mtDNA haplogroups U4 and U5a, and an overrepresentation of J (at roughly 30%). The study also found that, "local genetic continuities are further attested to by six terminal branches (H1e1, J1c3, J2b1, U2e2a, U8b1b1 and K1a4a)" also shared by ancient and modern Umbrians. Romulus Augustulus Romulus Augustus ( c.  465  – after 511 ), nicknamed Augustulus ,

5292-420: The support of her nephew Theodosius II . Ravenna enjoyed a period of peace, during which time the Christian religion was favoured by the imperial court, and the city gained some of its most famous monuments, including the Orthodox Baptistry, the misnamed Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (she was not actually buried there), and San Giovanni Evangelista . The late 5th century saw the dissolution of Roman authority in

5376-544: The surrounding Romagna area became part of the new unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861. During World War II , the town suffered severe damage. Fifty-two Allied bombing raids during the course of the Second World War had taken their toll, destroying some of Ravenna's noteworthy, unequalled early Christian art. Bombs intended for the railway station and its sidings had pulverised the Basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista in August 1944. On 5 November 1944 troops of 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, 5th Canadian Armoured Division and

5460-404: The town to rebuild them at its own expense. Theodoric died in 526 and was succeeded by his young grandson Athalaric under the authority of his daughter Amalasunta , but by 535 both were dead and Theodoric's line was represented only by Amalasuntha's daughter Matasuntha . Various Ostrogothic military leaders took the Kingdom of Italy, but none were as successful as Theodoric had been. Meanwhile,

5544-511: The two great founders of the city and of the monarchy were thus strangely united in the last of their successors". Some modern scholars consider Romulus' distinction as the last western emperor to be dubious. In particular, some historians, such as Ralph W. Mathisen and Marjeta Šašel Kos , have pointed to Julius Nepos as the actual last Western Roman emperor. Though he never regained Italy, Nepos continued to rule in Dalmatia, with support from Zeno and with nominal recognition by Odoacer, until he

5628-419: The usurpation of his predecessor Julius Nepos ( r.  474–475 in Italy) in 475. Nepos fled to Dalmatia and continued to claim the imperial title in exile, which hampered Romulus's legitimacy and ensured that he was never recognised by the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno . In 476, the allied barbarian foederati in Italy demanded Italian lands to settle on, which was refused by Orestes. Under Odoacer,

5712-442: The west only added to these issues. In 410, the Visigoths under Alaric I had sacked Rome and in 455, the last western emperor of Theodosius' dynasty, Valentinian III ( r.   425–455), was deposed and murdered. That same year, Rome was sacked again for the second time in less than fifty years, this time by the Vandals . The Roman army became increasingly reliant on barbarian mercenaries and after Valentinian's murder,

5796-522: The west, and Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476 by the general Odoacer . Odoacer ruled as King of Italy for 13 years, but in 489 the Eastern Emperor Zeno sent the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After losing the Battle of Verona , Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, where he withstood a siege of three years by Theodoric, until the taking of Rimini deprived Ravenna of supplies. Theodoric took Ravenna in 493, supposedly slew Odoacer with his own hands, and Ravenna became

5880-506: The west, given that Nepos, invested as emperor by Zeno's predecessor Leo I, still ruled in exile in Dalmatia. Problems with the Western Roman army, mainly composed of barbarian foederati , had escalated throughout the 470s. The issues the army had with the central government had been what allowed Orestes to depose Nepos. In 476, the barbarian foederati in Italy, composed mainly of the Herules , Scirians and Turcilingians , demanded land in Italy to settle on. Orestes refused. The leader of

5964-399: Was Dominus Noster Romulus Augustus Pius Felix Augustus . Romulus Augustus was often colloquially referred to as "Augustulus" (meaning "little Augustus") even in his own time, in reference to his youth. "Augustulus" was a derisive nickname and was never in official use; all of Romulus' coins use the names Romulus Augustus . In Greek , his first name Romulus was also changed derisively into

6048-439: Was Julius Nepos , who had been in power for less than a year. Nepos had been appointed western emperor in 474 by the eastern emperors Leo I ( r.   457–474) and Zeno ( r.   474–491), but had little real support in the west. In 475, Nepos named Orestes as a patrician and magister militum ('master of soldiers'; effectively commander-in-chief), replacing the previous holder of that office, Ecdicius . Orestes

6132-455: Was Roman emperor of the West from 31 October 475 until 4 September 476. Romulus was placed on the imperial throne while still a minor by his father Orestes , the magister militum , for whom he served as little more than a figurehead. After a rule of ten months, the barbarian general Odoacer defeated and killed Orestes and deposed Romulus. As Odoacer did not proclaim any successor, Romulus

6216-456: Was a distinguished late Roman figure, once having served as notarius (secretary) to the Hunnic king Attila . As magister militum , Orestes was tasked by Nepos to lead an army against Visigoths and Burgundians , foederati (barbarian allies of the empire) who were rebelling in southern Gaul. The army given to Orestes by Nepos was multi-ethnic, with many foederati soldiers. Obeying to

6300-409: Was accompanied to Campania by a large retinue and some of his surviving relatives. Romulus may have been alive as late as 507 or 511, when Theodoric the Great , Odoacer's successor as king of Italy, wrote to a "Romulus" to confirm a grant made to him and his mother by Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius , the praetorian prefect of Italy , on Theoderic's authority. Per Thomas Hodgkin , who translated

6384-412: Was active until the 10th century. Very few records survive of Romulus' reign. Any policies that he might have pursued are not known. The scant narrative record and few known coins, in addition to there not being any known inscriptions of significance or laws issued by the emperor, make him a shadowy and relatively inconsequential figure. Ralph W. Mathisen considered him in 1997 to have been "perhaps even

6468-500: Was an important sacred place for Umbrian tribes from the 3rd c. BC and the site was monumentalised in the Republican age (2nd-1st century BC). The modern Festival of Ceri, celebrated every year in Gubbio on May 15 in honor of Bishop Ubald or Ubaldo of Gubbio (1084-1160), shares certain features with the rites described in the 3rd c. BC Iguvine tables mentioned above, and so may be a survival of that ancient pre-Christian custom. It

6552-614: Was an important station of the Roman Imperial Fleet . Nowadays the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages . During the Germanic campaigns, Thusnelda , widow of Arminius , and Marbod , King of the Marcomanni , were confined at Ravenna. Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule. Emperor Trajan built a 70 km (43.50 mi) long aqueduct at

6636-701: Was at this time that the Ravenna Cosmography was written. Under Byzantine rule, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ravenna was temporarily granted autocephaly from the Roman Church by the emperor, in 666, but this was soon revoked. Nevertheless, the archbishop of Ravenna held the second place in Italy after the pope, and played an important role in many theological controversies during this period. The Lombards , under King Liutprand , occupied Ravenna in 712, but were forced to return it to

6720-681: Was bordered by the Tiber and Nar rivers and included the Apennine slopes on the Adriatic. The ancient Umbrian language is a branch of a group called Oscan-Umbrian , which is related to the Latino-Faliscan languages . They are also called Ombrii in some Roman sources. Ancient Roman writers thought the Umbri to be of Gaulish origin; Cornelius Bocchus wrote that they were descended from an ancient Gaulish tribe. Plutarch wrote that

6804-657: Was murdered in 480. Throughout the duration of his brief reign, Romulus was never recognised in Constantinople, with the eastern court instead continuing to recognise Nepos as the legitimate western emperor. Though none would be widely recognised thereafter, Nepos also was not the last person to claim the western empire. From about 477 to 516, the Moorish dux Masties in North Africa claimed to be an emperor. In Visigothic Hispania, two Roman usurpers rose from

6888-467: Was not the firstborn boy. After an interregnum in the west lasting two months, Romulus, perhaps as young as ten years old, was proclaimed emperor in Nepos' stead by Orestes on 31 October 475. He was the last emperor to be proclaimed in the west. Why the interregnum since Nepos lasted so long and why Orestes, a high-ranking military official and a Roman by birth, did not take the imperial title for himself

6972-757: Was sacked by the French following the Battle of Ravenna . Ravenna was also known during the Renaissance as the birthplace of the Monster of Ravenna . After the Venetian withdrawal, Ravenna was again ruled by legates of the Pope as part of the Papal States. The city was damaged in a tremendous flood in May 1636. Over the next 300 years, a network of canals diverted nearby rivers and drained nearby swamps, thus reducing

7056-491: Was simply Romulus; he was named after his maternal grandfather, a nobleman from Poetovio in Noricum . Upon his accession to the imperial throne, he also took Augustus as a proper name, not just a title. Many historians have noted the coincidence that the last western emperor bore the names of both Romulus , the legendary founder and first king of Rome , and Augustus , the first emperor. The full style used on his coinage

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