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Romulus Augustus ((ラテン語:Romulus Augustus); born c. AD 461 – died after AD 476, and was apparently still alive as late as 507)〔Burns, Thomas, ''A History of the Ostrogoths,'' p. 74〕 was an emperor (alleged usurper) reigning over the Western Roman Empire from 31 October AD 475 until 4 September AD 476. His deposition by Odoacer traditionally marks the end of the Western Roman Empire, the fall of ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Western Europe. He is mostly known by his nickname "Romulus Augustulus", though he ruled officially as ''Romulus Augustus''.〔Older literature (appr. up to 1850) also refers to him as ''Romulus Momyllus'', ''Momyllus Augustulus'', etc., ''Momyllus'' being a corruption of ''Romulus''. Cf. Gibbon, ''Decline and Fall'', 4.36.〕 The Latin suffix ''-ulus'' is a diminutive; hence, ''Augustulus'' effectively means "Little Augustus". The historical record contains few details of Romulus's life. He was proclaimed as emperor by his father Orestes, the ''magister militum'' (master of soldiers) of the Roman army after forcing Emperor Julius Nepos to quit Italy. Romulus, little more than a child, acted as a figurehead for his father's rule. Reigning for only ten months, his legitimacy and authority disputed beyond Italy, Romulus was deposed by Odoacer, who had defeated and executed Orestes. Odoacer sent Romulus to live in the Castellum Lucullanum in Campania, after which he disappears from the historical record. ==Life== Romulus' father Orestes was a Roman citizen, originally from Pannonia, who had served as a secretary and diplomat for Attila the Hun and later rose through the ranks of the Roman army.〔Gibbon, Edward, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', David Womersley, ed. London; Penguin Books, 1994. Vol. 3, p. 312.〕 The future emperor was named ''Romulus'' after his maternal grandfather, a nobleman from Poetovio in Noricum. 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, its first emperor.〔 Orestes was appointed Magister militum by Julius Nepos in 475. Shortly after his appointment, Orestes launched a rebellion and captured Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire since 402, on 28 August 475. Nepos fled to Dalmatia, where his uncle had ruled a semi-autonomous state in the 460s.〔Gibbon, pp. 391, 400.〕 Orestes, however, refused to become emperor, "from some secret motive", opined historian Edward Gibbon.〔Gibbon, p. 402.〕 Instead, he installed his son on the throne on 31 October 475. The empire Augustus ruled was a shadow of its former self and had shrunk significantly over the previous 80 years. Imperial authority had retreated to the Italian borders and parts of southern Gaul: Italia and Gallia Narbonensis, respectively.〔Hollister, C. Warren, ''Medieval Europe: A Short History.'' New York; McGraw Hill, 1995, 32.〕 The Eastern Roman Empire treated its western counterpart as a client state. The Eastern Emperor Leo, who died in 474, had appointed the western emperors Anthemius and Julius Nepos, and Constantinople never recognized the new government. Neither Zeno nor Basiliscus, the two generals fighting for the eastern throne at the time of Romulus' accession, accepted him as ruler.〔 As a proxy for his father, Romulus made no decisions and left no monuments, though coins bearing his name were minted in Rome, Milan, Ravenna, and Gaul.〔 Several months after Orestes took power, a coalition of Heruli, Scirian and Turcilingi mercenaries demanded that he give them a third of the land in Italy.〔 When Orestes refused, the tribes revolted under the leadership of the Scirian chieftain Odoacer. Orestes was captured near Piacenza on 28 August 476 and swiftly executed. Odoacer advanced on Ravenna, capturing the city and the young emperor. Romulus was compelled to abdicate the throne on 4 September 476. This act has been cited as the end of the Western Roman Empire, although Romulus' deposition did not cause any significant disruption at the time. Rome had already lost its hegemony over the provinces, Germanics dominated the Roman army and Germanic generals like Odoacer had long been the real powers behind the throne.〔Norwich, 54.〕 Italy would suffer far greater devastation in the next century when Emperor Justinian I reconquered it. After the abdication of Romulus, the Roman Senate, on behalf of Odoacer, sent representatives to the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno, whom it asked to formally reunite the two halves of the Empire: "the west… no longer required an emperor of its own: one monarch sufficed for the world".〔Bryce 1961, p.25〕 He was also asked to make Odoacer a patrician, and administrator of Italy in Zeno's name. Zeno pointed out that the Senate should rightfully have first requested that Julius Nepos take the throne once more, but he nonetheless agreed to their requests. Odoacer then ruled Italy in Zeno's name. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Romulus Augustulus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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