Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus) - Short Reign

Short Reign

The new administration was not recognized by the rival Eastern Roman Emperors Zeno and Basiliscus, who still considered Julius Nepos to be their legitimate partner in the administration of the Empire. But as they were engaged in a civil war with each other, neither emperor was about to oppose Orestes in battle.

Orestes was free to issue new solidi in the mints of Arles, Milan, Ravenna and Rome, enabling him to pay the barbarian mercenaries who constituted most of the Roman Army at the time.

However Orestes denied the demands of Heruli, Scirian and Torcilingi mercenaries to be granted Italian lands in which to settle. The dissatisfied mercenaries revolted under the Germanic chieftain Odoacer, whom they declared to be their king on August 23, 476. Odoacer led them against their former employer. Orestes was captured near Piacenza on August 28 and was swiftly executed. Within weeks, Ravenna was captured and Romulus Augustus was deposed. Eighteenth century historian Edward Gibbon attached great significance to this event due to Odoacer's foreign birth. Gibbon's romantic description of the events of 476 as the fall of the Western Roman Empire was influential for two centuries but modern scholarship has discredited this view. Nevertheless, Odoacer's defeat of Orestes and his son are often still used to demarcate the transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages.