Romulus Augustulus
Imperator Caesar Romulus Augustus
Romulus, nicknamed Augustulus ('Little Augustus') in mockery, was the teenage son of the general Orestes, installed as a figurehead emperor after his father drove Julius Nepos from Italy. He was never recognised by Constantinople, which still regarded Julius Nepos as the legitimate western emperor. On 4 September 476 AD, the Germanic commander Odoacer (Odovacer) deposed him and sent him into honourable exile at the Castellum Lucullanum near Naples, granting him an annual pension. He was apparently still alive circa 507 AD. His deposition is the conventional date for the end of the Western Roman Empire.
Romulus Augustulus's deposition on 4 September 476 AD is the most commonly cited end-date of the Western Roman Empire and of classical antiquity. His coins are among the most historically evocative objects in the entire Roman series: the last issues of a line of emperors that began with Augustus 503 years earlier. A genuine solidus of Romulus Augustulus represents the end of Rome itself.
Key Events
Coinage
The coinage of Romulus Augustulus is rare and of the utmost historical significance. Struck only at Ravenna and Rome during his eleven-month reign, his solidi and tremisses are the last coins struck in the name of a Western Roman emperor. His portrait, a young, diademed face, appears on a handful of known types. Owning a coin of Romulus Augustulus is to hold the end of an epoch in one's hand.
Denominations
Notable Types
- VICTORIA AVGVSTORVM solidus from Ravenna
- Tremissis portrait types
- Monogram reverse variants
Common Reverses
Active Mints
Related Resources
Further Reading
- Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume X,
- Roman Coins and Their Values, Volume V,