 | August 28, 476 | The name of 16-year-old emperor Romulus Augustulus calls to mind two legendary figures in Roman history: Rome's mythic founder, Romulus, and its first and perhaps most successful emperor, Augustus. But Romulus Augustulus' fate was not bound for the same glory. On this day in 476 CE, Rome's master of soldiers and the emperor's father, Orestes, fell in battle against the Germanic warrior Odoacer. Within days, the boy emperor was tossed out of Italy and Odoacer became the peninsula's new king, marking the end of the once-mighty Western Roman Empire. By the late fifth century CE, Rome was a shell of its former self. In 330 CE, the empire had split in two, with the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, taking shape in the east. The Goths entered Roman territory by crossing the Danube in 378 CE, Visigoths sacked the city of Rome in 410 CE, and various barbarian tribes chipped away at other parts of the region. By 475 CE, the realm that once stretched from North Africa to Scotland was confined to the Italian peninsula. Powerful leaders gave way to a corrupt government and endless line of generals vying to be emperor, until the empire's fall was only a matter of time. The DNA of Rome lingered on for a millennia in the Byzantium, until it too fell in 1453. |
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