query: what places made up the western roman empire?

title: Western Roman Empire

text: ones, albeit only in a juridical sense. These emperors would continue to rule the Roman Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, nearly a thousand years later. As 480 marks the end of the juridical division of the empire into two separate imperial courts, some historians refer to the death of Nepos and abolition of the Western Empire by Zeno as the end of the Western Roman Empire. Despite the fall, or abolition, of the Western Empire, many of the new Barbarian kings of western Europe continued to operate firmly within a Roman administrative framework. This is especially true

title: Western Roman Empire

text: prosperous regions of North Africa, the ancient Roman heartland of Italy and parts of Hispania. Political instability in the Eastern heartlands, combined with foreign invasions and religious differences, made efforts to retain control of these territories difficult and they were gradually lost for good. Though the Eastern Empire retained territories in the south of Italy until the eleventh century, the influence that the Empire had over Western Europe had diminished significantly. The papal coronation of the Frankish King Charlemagne as Roman Emperor in 800 marked a new imperial line that would evolve into the Holy Roman Empire, which presented a

title: Western Roman Empire

text: in the remaining Empire, the ideal of the Roman Empire as a mighty Christian Empire with a single ruler further continued to appeal to many powerful rulers in western Europe. With the papal coronation of Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Romans" in 800 AD, his realm was explicitly proclaimed as a restoration of the Roman Empire in Western Europe under the concept of "translatio imperii". Though the Carolingian Empire collapsed in 888 and Berengar, the last "Emperor" claiming succession from Charlemagne, died in 924, the concept of a papacy- and Germanic-based Roman Empire in the West would resurface in the

title: Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: united empire. Roman cultural traditions continued throughout the territory of the Western Empire, and a recent school of interpretation argues that the great political changes can more accurately be described as a complex cultural transformation, rather than a fall. The decline of the Roman Empire is one of the traditional markers of the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the European Middle Ages. Throughout the 5th century, the Empire's territories in western Europe and northwestern Africa, including Italy, fell to various invading or indigenous peoples in what is sometimes called the Migration period. Although the eastern half still

title: Western Roman Empire

text: by Arabic numerals. A very visible legacy of the Western Roman Empire is the Catholic Church. Church institutions slowly began to replace Roman ones in the West, even helping to negotiate the safety of Rome during the late 5th century. As Rome was invaded by Germanic tribes, many assimilated, and by the middle of the medieval period ( 9th and 10th centuries) the central, western, and northern parts of Europe had been largely converted to Roman Catholicism and acknowledged the Pope as the Vicar of Christ. The first of the Barbarian kings to convert to the Church of Rome was

title: Western Roman Empire

text: large formerly Western Roman territories into Imperial control, and with them the Empire would begin to face the same problems it had faced under previous periods prior to the Tetrarchy when there had been only one ruler. Shortly after the reconquest of North Africa a usurper, Stotzas, appeared in the province (though he was quickly defeated). As such, the idea of dividing the Empire into two courts out of administrative necessity would see a limited revival during the period that the Eastern Empire controlled large parts of the former West, both by courtiers in the East and enemies in the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: the predecessors of modern-day Spain. The religious disagreements between Rome and Constantinople eventually led to the breakdown in imperial rule over Rome itself, and the gradual transition of the Exarchate of Ravenna into the independent Papal States, led by the Pope. In an attempt to gain support against the Lombards, the Pope called for aid from the Frankish Kingdom instead of the Eastern Empire, eventually crowning the Frankish king Charlemagne as "Roman Emperor" in 800 AD. Though this coronation was strongly opposed by the Eastern Empire, there was little they could do as their influence in Western Europe decreased. After

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Seeking to counterbalance the influence of the Empire in the East, Theoderic married his daughters to the Visigothic king Alaric II and the Burgundian prince Sigismund. His sister Amalfrida was married to the Vandal king Thrasamund and he married Audofleda, sister of the Frankish king Clovis I, himself. Through these alliances and occasional conflicts, the territory controlled by Theoderic in the early sixth century nearly constituted a restored Western Roman Empire. Ruler of Italy since 493, Theoderic became king of the Visigoths in 511 and exerted hegemony over the Vandals in North Africa between 521 and 523. As such, his

title: Western Roman Empire

text: revival of the Imperial title in Western Europe but was in no meaningful sense an extension of Roman traditions or institutions. The Great Schism of 1054 between the churches of Rome and Constantinople further diminished any authority the Emperor in Constantinople could hope to exert in the west. As the Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point where the central government in Rome could not effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic given the vast extent of the Empire. News of invasion, revolt, natural disasters, or epidemic outbreak was carried by ship or mounted postal service,

text: Empire of Late Antiquity already looked very different from classical Rome. The Roman Empire emerged from the Roman Republic when Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar transformed it from a republic into a monarchy. Rome reached its zenith in the 2nd century, then fortunes slowly declined (with many revivals and restorations along the way). The reasons for the decline of the Empire are still debated today, and are likely multiple. Historians infer that the population appears to have diminished in many provinces—especially western Europe—from the diminishing size of fortifications built to protect the cities from barbarian incursions from the 3rd century

text: to become the largest and most powerful city of Christian Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Since the Crisis of the Third Century, the Empire was intermittently ruled by more than one emperor at once (usually two), presiding over different regions. At first a haphazard form of power sharing, this eventually settled on an East-West administrative division between the Western Roman Empire (centered on Rome, but now usually presided from other seats of power such as Trier, Milan, and especially Ravenna), and the Eastern Roman Empire (with its capital initially in Nicomedia, and later Constantinople). The Latin-speaking west, under dreadful

text: western Europe had become almost entirely agrarian at a subsistence level, with no long-distance trade. Pirenne's view on the continuity of the Roman Empire before and after the Germanic invasion has been supported by recent historians such as François Masai, Karl Ferdinand Werner, and Peter Brown. Some modern critics have argued that the "Pirenne Thesis" erred on two counts: by treating the Carolingian realm as a Roman state and by overemphasizing the effect of the Islamic conquests on the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. Other critics have argued that while Pirenne was correct in arguing for the continuity of the

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: for at least another century, before disappearing at an unknown date in the early 7th century. The Roman Empire was not only a political unity enforced by violence. It was also the combined and elaborated civilization of the Mediterranean basin and beyond. It included manufacture, trade, and architecture, widespread secular literacy, written law, and an international language of science and literature. The Western barbarians lost much of these higher cultural practices, but their redevelopment in the Middle Ages by polities aware of the Roman achievement formed the basis for the later development of Europe. Observing the cultural and archaeological continuities

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Clovis I of the Franks; other kingdoms, such as the Visigoths, later followed suit to garner favor with the papacy. When Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as "Roman Emperor" in 800, he both severed ties with the outraged Eastern Empire and established the precedent that no man in Western Europe would be emperor without a papal coronation. Although the power the Pope wielded changed significantly throughout the subsequent periods, the office itself has remained as the head of the Catholic Church and the head of state of the Vatican City. The Pope has consistently held the title of "Pontifex Maximus"

title: Western Roman Empire

text: southern Italy under Roman rule of a sort. This, however, was undone by further civil wars in the Empire, and the slow conquest of the region by the Empire's former mercenaries, the Normans, who finally put an end to imperial rule in Western Europe in 1071 with the conquest of Bari. The last Emperor to attempt reconquests in the West was Manuel I Komnenos, who invaded southern Italy during a war with the Norman Kingdom of Sicily in the 1150s. The city of Bari willingly opened its gates to the Emperor and after successes in taking other cities in the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: West. The earliest attempt at crowning a new Western Emperor after the abolition of the title occurred already during the Gothic Wars under Justinian. Belisarius, an accomplished general who had already successfully campaigned to restore Roman control over North Africa and large parts of Italy, including Rome itself, was offered the position of Western Roman Emperor by the Ostrogoths during his siege of Ravenna (the Ostrogothic, and previously Western Roman, capital) in 540. The Ostrogoths, desperate to avoid losing their control of Italy, offered the title and their fealty to Belisarius as Western "Augustus". Justinian had expected to rule over

text: Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire The causes and mechanisms of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire are a historical theme that was introduced by historian Edward Gibbon in his 1776 book "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". He started an ongoing historiographical discussion about what caused the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the reduced power of the remaining Eastern Empire, in the 4th–5th centuries. Gibbon was not the first to speculate on why the Empire collapsed, but he was the first to give a well-researched and well-referenced account.

title: Western Roman Empire

text: in 540 and Germanus in 582. Western Roman Empire In historiography, the Western Roman Empire refers to the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used to describe the period from 395 to 476, where there were separate coequal courts dividing the governance of the empire in the Western and the Eastern provinces, with a distinct imperial succession in the separate courts. The terms Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are modern descriptions that describe political entities that were "de facto"

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Western Roman Empire In historiography, the Western Roman Empire refers to the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used to describe the period from 395 to 476, where there were separate coequal courts dividing the governance of the empire in the Western and the Eastern provinces, with a distinct imperial succession in the separate courts. The terms Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are modern descriptions that describe political entities that were "de facto" independent; contemporary Romans did not consider

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: the reasons for the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire). Comparison has also been made with China after the end of the Han dynasty, which re-established unity under the Sui dynasty while the Mediterranean world remained politically disunited. From at least the time of Henri Pirenne scholars have described a continuity of Roman culture and political legitimacy long after 476. Pirenne postponed the demise of classical civilization to the 8th century. He challenged the notion that Germanic barbarians had caused the Western Roman Empire to end, and he refused to equate the end of the Western Roman Empire with the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: to as "barbarian kingdoms" founded during its collapse continued to grow and prosper. Their beginnings, together with the end of the Western Roman Empire, mark the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The practices of the barbarian kingdoms gradually replaced the old Roman institutions, specifically in the praetorian prefectures of Gaul and Italy, during the sixth and seventh centuries. In many places, the Roman institutions collapsed along with the economic stability. In some regions, notably Gaul and Italy, the settlement of barbarians on former Roman lands seems to have caused relatively little disruption, with barbarian rulers using and

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: Fall of the Western Roman Empire The Fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called Fall of the Roman Empire or Fall of Rome) was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces; modern historians mention factors including the effectiveness and numbers of the army, the health and numbers of the Roman population, the strength of the economy, the competence of the

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: through and beyond the period of lost political control, the process has been described as a complex cultural transformation, rather than a fall. Fall of the Western Roman Empire The Fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called Fall of the Roman Empire or Fall of Rome) was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces; modern historians mention factors including the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: form of the Holy Roman Empire in 962. The Holy Roman Emperors would uphold the notion that they had inherited the supreme power and prestige of the Roman Emperors of old until the downfall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Charlemagne, and the subsequent Holy Roman Emperors, were not, and did not claim to be, rulers of a restored Western Roman Empire. Pope Leo III and contemporary historians were fully aware of that the notion of a separate Western court had been abolished over three centuries prior and considered the Roman Empire to be "one and indivisible". The ruler

title: Western Roman Empire

text: of the formerly imperial territories. Some historians thus refer to the reorganizations of Italy and abolition of the old and separate Western Roman administrative units, such as the Praetorian prefecture of Italy, during the sixth century as the "true" fall of the Western Roman Empire. Roman cultural traditions continued throughout the territory of the Western Empire for long after its disappearance, and a recent school of interpretation argues that the great political changes can more accurately be described as a complex cultural transformation, rather than a fall. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Germanic kingdoms, often referred

title: Western Roman Empire

text: the 6th century, inasmuch as gifts from the senate were received by Emperor Tiberius II in 578 and 580. The traditional senate building, Curia Julia, was rebuilt into a church under Pope Honorius I in 630, probably with permission from the eastern emperor, Heraclius. Marcellinus Comes, a sixth-century Eastern Roman historian and a courtier of Justinian I, mentions the Western Roman Empire in his "Chronicle", which primarily covers the Eastern Roman Empire from 379 to 534. In the "Chronicle", it is clear that Marcellinus made a clear divide between East and West, with mentions of a geographical east (""Oriens"") and

title: Western Roman Empire

text: himself the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. The date of 476 was popularized by the 18th century British historian Edward Gibbon as a demarcating event for the end of the Western Empire and is sometimes used to mark the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Odoacer's Italy, and other barbarian kingdoms, would maintain a pretence of Roman continuity through the continued use of the old Roman administrative systems and nominal subservience to the Eastern Roman court. In the 6th century, emperor Justinian I re-imposed direct Imperial rule on large parts of the former Western Roman Empire, including the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: in the case of the Ostrogoths, who came to rule Italy after Odoacer. They continued to use the administrative systems of Odoacer's kingdom, essentially those of the Western Roman Empire, and administrative positions continued to be staffed exclusively by Romans. The senate continued to function as it always had and the laws of the Empire were recognized as ruling the Roman population, though the Goths were ruled by their own traditional laws. Western Roman administrative institutions, in particular those of Italy, thus continued to be used during "barbarian" rule and after the forces of the Eastern Roman empire re-conquered some

text: and enjoy periods of recovery and cultural brilliance, but its size would remain a fraction of what it had been in classical times. It became an essentially regional power, centered on Greece and Anatolia. Modern historians tend to prefer the term "Byzantine Empire" for the eastern, medieval stage of the Roman Empire. The decline of the Western Roman Empire was a process spanning many centuries; there is no consensus when it might have begun but many dates and time lines have been proposed by historians. The various theories and explanations for the fall of the Roman Empire in the West

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Charlemagne. Following several wars in the 810s Emperor Michael I Rangabe eventually recognized Charlemagne as an "Emperor", but as the slightly humiliating "Emperor of the Franks" rather than "Roman Emperor", a title he reserved for himself. For centuries to come, the "revived" Western court and the Eastern court, in direct succession to the Roman Emperors of old, would make competing claims to be rulers of the whole Roman Empire. With the Eastern Empire terming the Holy Roman Empire as an "Empire of the Franks", the term "Empire of the Greeks" was popularized in the Frankish court as a way to

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: an annual pension of 6,000 solidi before sending him to live with relatives in Campania. Odoacer then installed himself as ruler over Italy, and sent the Imperial insignia to Constantinople. By convention, the Western Roman Empire is deemed to have ended on 4 September 476, when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus and proclaimed himself ruler of Italy, but this convention is subject to many qualifications. In Roman constitutional theory, the Empire was still simply united under one emperor, implying no abandonment of territorial claims. In areas where the convulsions of the dying Empire had made organized self-defence legitimate, rump states continued

title: Western Roman Empire

text: the Empire to have been split into two separate empires but viewed it as a single polity governed by two separate imperial courts as an administrative expediency. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, and the Western imperial court was formally dissolved in 480. The Eastern imperial court survived until 1453. Though the Empire had seen periods with more than one Emperor ruling jointly before, the view that it was impossible for a single emperor to govern the entire Empire was institutionalised to reforms to Roman law by emperor Diocletian following the disastrous civil wars and disintegrations of the Crisis

title: Western Roman Empire

text: west (""Occidens"") and an of imperial east (""Orientale imperium"" and ""Orientale respublica"") and an imperial west (""Occidentalie imperium"", ""Occidentale regnum"", ""Occidentalis respublica"", ""Hesperium regnum"", ""Hesperium imperium"" and ""principatum Occidentis""). Furthermore, Marcellinus specifically designates some emperors and consuls as being "Eastern", ""Orientalibus principibus"" and ""Orientalium consulum"" respectively. The term "Hesperium Imperium", translating to "Western Empire", has sometimes been applied to the Western Roman Empire by modern historians as well. Though Marcellinus does not refer to the Empire as a whole after 395, only to its separate parts, he clearly identifies the term "Roman" as applying to the Empire as a whole.

title: Western Roman Empire

text: since before the fall of the Western Roman Empire and retains it to this day; this title formerly used by the high priest of the Roman polytheistic religion, one of whom was Julius Caesar. The Roman Senate survived the initial collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Its authority increased under the rule of Odoacer and later the Ostrogoths, evident by the Senate in 498 managing to install Symmachus as pope despite both Theoderic of Italy and Emperor Anastasius supporting another candidate, Laurentius. Exactly when the senate disappeared is unclear, but the institution is known to have survived at least into

title: Western Roman Empire

text: region, Manuel dreamed of a restored Roman Empire and a union between the churches of Rome and Constantinople, separated since the schism of 1054. Despite initial successes and Papal support, the campaign was unsuccessful and Manuel was forced to return east. As the Western Roman Empire crumbled, the new Germanic rulers who conquered its constituent provinces maintained most Roman laws and traditions. Many of the invading Germanic tribes were already Christianized, although most were followers of Arianism. They quickly changed their adherence to the state church of the Roman Empire. This helped cement the loyalty of the local Roman populations,

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Eastern Roman Empire had rejected the coronation of both Olybrius and Glycerius, instead supporting Julius Nepos, "magister militum" in Dalmatia as Western Roman Emperor. Nepos, with support from the East, deposed Glycerius in the spring of 474. Orestes, "magister militum" of Nepos, deposed him a year later in 475, forcing Nepos to flee Ravenna to his estates in Dalmatia. Orestes crowned his son Romulus as Western Emperor, though the Eastern Empire and the Western possessions outside of Italy maintained recognition of Nepos as the legitimate Emperor. Nepos continued to rule as "Western Emperor" in exile in Dalmatia until his murder

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Tetrici were pardoned, although they were first paraded in a triumph. Diocletian was the first Emperor to divide the Roman Empire into a Tetrarchy. In 286 he elevated Maximian to the rank of "augustus" (emperor) and gave him control of the Western Empire while he himself ruled the East. In 293, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus were appointed as their subordinates (caesars), creating the First Tetrarchy. This system effectively divided the Empire into four major regions, as a way to avoid the civil unrest that had marked the 3rd century. In the West, Maximian made Mediolanum (now Milan) his capital, and

title: Western Roman Empire

text: threat to the Empire. Aetius transferred his forces to the Danube, though Attila concentrated on raiding the Eastern Roman provinces in the Balkans, providing temporary relief to the Western Empire. In 449, Attila received a message from Honoria, Valentinian III's sister, offering him half the western empire if he would rescue her from an unwanted marriage that her brother was forcing her into. With a pretext to invade the West, Attila secured peace with the Eastern court and crossed the Rhine in early 451. With Attila wreaking havoc in Gaul, Aetius gathered a coalition of Roman and Germanic forces, including

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Ages. Though military campaigns had been conducted by the Western court prior to 476 with the aim of recapturing lost territory, most notably under Majorian, the reconquests, if successful at all, were only momentary. It was as a result of the campaigns of the generals Belisarius and Narses on behalf of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I from 533 to 554 that long-lasting reconquests of Roman lands were witnessed. Despite also suffering from barbarian incursions, the Eastern Empire had survived the fifth century mostly intact. The Western Roman Empire, less urbanized than the Eastern and more thinly populated, may have

title: Western Roman Empire

text: to have ended on 4 September 476, when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustus, but the historical record calls this determination into question. Indeed, the deposition of Romulus Augustus received very little attention in contemporary times. Romulus was a usurper in the eyes of the Eastern Roman Empire and the remaining territories of Western Roman control outside of Italy, with the previous emperor Julius Nepos still being alive and claiming to rule the Western Empire in Dalmatia. Furthermore, the Western court had lacked true power and had been subject to Germanic aristocrats for decades, with most of its legal territory being under

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Petronius Maximus became the Western Roman Emperor on 17 March 455, after assassinating Valentinian III. During his short reign, he provoked Genseric, the Vandal king, into invading the Western Empire and sacking Rome, by breaking a marriage agreement made between Genseric and Valentinian III. Maximus and his son Palladius attempted to flee on 31 May 455, however they were apprehended by a group of peasants, and either killed by them, or by palace servants wishing to curry favor with them. Avitus was proclaimed Western Emperor on 9July 455, with the support of the Visigoth King Theodoric II. While he held

title: Western Roman Empire

text: of the Roman Empire at the time of Charlemagne's coronation was Irene, the mother of emperor Constantine VI who she had deposed. Leo III considered Irene to be a usurper and illegitimate to rule due to her gender and as such considered the imperial throne to be vacant. Thus, Charlemagne was not crowned as the ruler of the Western Roman Empire and successor to Romulus Augustulus, but rather as the successor of Constantine VI and as sole Roman Emperor. Irene was deposed and replaced by Emperor Nikephoros soon after, and the Eastern Empire refused to recognize the Imperial title of

title: Western Roman Empire

text: some attribute to Odoacer or the previous, deposed emperor Glycerius, and the Eastern Emperor Zeno chose not to appoint a new western emperor. Zeno, recognizing that no true Roman control remained over the territories legally governed by the Western court, instead chose to abolish the juridical division of the position of Emperor and declared himself the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. Zeno became the first sole Roman emperor since the division after Theodosius I, 85 years prior, and the position would never again be divided. As such, the (eastern) Roman emperors after 480 are the successors of the western

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: the invasion was stopped by the combined forces of the barbarians within the Western empire, coordinated by Aetius and supported by what troops he could muster. The next year, Attila invaded Italy and proceeded to march upon Rome, but an outbreak of disease in his army, lack of supplies, reports that Eastern Roman troops were attacking his noncombatant population in Pannonia, and, possibly, Pope Leo's plea for peace induced him to halt this campaign. Attila unexpectedly died a year later (453) and his empire crumbled as his followers fought for power. The life of Severinus of Noricum gives glimpses of

title: Western Roman Empire

text: under King Totila in 541. They were finally defeated following campaigns by the Roman general Narses, who also repelled invasions into Italy by the Franks and Alemanni, though some cities in northern Italy continued to hold out until the 560s. Justinian promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction to reorganize the governance of Italy and the province was returned to Roman rule. The end of the conflict saw Italy devastated and considerably depopulated, which, combined with the disastrous effects of the Plague of Justinian, made it difficult to retain over the following centuries. At the time of the collapse of the Western Empire

text: recovery. Gibbon took September 4, 476 as a convenient marker for the final dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, when Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed by Odoacer, a Germanic chieftain. Some modern historians question the significance of the year 476 for its end. Julius Nepos, the Western emperor recognized by the Eastern Roman Empire, continued to rule in Dalmatia, until he was assassinated in 480. The Ostrogothic rulers of Italia considered themselves upholders of the direct line of Roman tradition, and the Eastern emperors considered themselves the sole rightful Roman rulers of a

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Consulto"). These coins were copied by Vandals in Africa and also formed the basis of the currency reform carried out by Emperor Anastasius in the East. Under Odoacer, Western consuls continued to be appointed as they had been under the Western Roman Empire and were accepted by the Eastern Court, the first being Caecina Decius Maximus Basilus in 480. Basilus was made the praetorian prefect of Italy in 483, another traditional position which continued to exist under Odoacer. Eleven further consuls were appointed by the Senate under Odoacer from 480 to 493 and one further Praetorian Prefect of Italy was

title: History of the Roman Empire

text: long-time friend Maximian "Augustus" of the western half. In doing so, he effectively created what would become the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. On March 1 293, authority was further divided. Each "Augustus" took a junior Emperor called a "Caesar" to aid him in administrative matters, and to provide a line of succession. Galerius became "Caesar" for Diocletian and Constantius Chlorus "Caesar" for Maximian. This constituted what is called the Tetrarchy (in Greek: "leadership of four") by modern scholars, as each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. After Rome had been plagued by bloody

title: Western Roman Empire

text: there was a constant Parthian threat of invasion. The Parthians repelled several Roman invasions, and even after successful wars of conquest, such as those implemented by Trajan or Septimius Severus, the conquered territories were forsaken in attempts to ensure a lasting peace with the Parthians. The Parthian Empire would be succeeded by the Sasanian Empire, which continued hostilities with the Roman Empire. Controlling the western border of Rome was reasonably easy because it was relatively close to Rome itself and also because of the disunity among the Germans. However, controlling both frontiers simultaneously during wartime was difficult. If the emperor

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Vandalic War. With the death of Athalaric in 534, Amalasuntha crowned her cousin and only relative Theodahad as king, hoping for his support. Instead, Amalasuntha was imprisoned and, even though Theodahad assured Emperor Justinian of her safety, she was executed shortly after. This served as an ideal "casus belli" for Justinian, who prepared to invade and reclaim the Italian peninsula for the Roman Empire. With Emperor Zeno having juridically reunified the Empire into one imperial court, the remaining Eastern Roman Empire continued to lay claim to the areas previously controlled by the Western court throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Maximus, and to reinstate himself as Western Emperor, which was done after Maximus was defeated in battle near Aquileia. Valentinian continued to rule the Western Empire until 392, when he was murdered by Arbogast. Magnus Maximus was elected emperor by his men in 384, in opposition to Gratian, who defeated him in battle in 383. Maximus was briefly recognized as the Western Emperor by Eastern Emperor Theodosius I, however this recognition was revoked by both when Maximus invaded Italy and deposed Valentinian II in 387. Valentinian II fled to the Eastern Roman Empire, and convinced Theodosius to invade the Western

title: Western Roman Empire

text: funding for maintaining a sufficiently powerful mercenary army to defend the entire Western Empire. The West's most important military area had been northern Gaul and the Rhine frontier in the 4th century, when Trier frequently served as a military capital of sorts for the Empire. Many leading Western generals were barbarians. The reign of Honorius was, even by Western Roman standards, chaotic and plagued by both internal and external struggles. The Visigothic "foederati" under Alaric, "magister militum" in Illyricum, rebelled in 395. Gildo, the "Comes Africae" and "Magister utriusque militiae per Africam", rebelled in 397 and initiated the Gildonic War.

text: the religion, the art, the technology. Historians of Late Antiquity, a field pioneered by Peter Brown, have turned away from the idea that the Roman Empire fell at all – refocusing instead on Pirenne's thesis. They see a transformation occurring over centuries, with the roots of Medieval culture contained in Roman culture and focus on the continuities between the classical and Medieval worlds. Thus, it was a gradual process with no clear break. Brown argues in his book that: Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire The causes and mechanisms of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: new "Augustus", a proven general from Hispania called Theodosius. During the next four years, he partially re-established the Roman position in the East. These campaigns depended on effective imperial coordination and mutual trust – between 379 and 380 Theodosius controlled not only the Eastern empire, but also, by agreement, the diocese of Illyricum. Theodosius was unable to recruit enough Roman troops, relying on barbarian warbands without Roman military discipline or loyalty. In contrast, during the Cimbrian War, the Roman Republic, controlling a smaller area than the western Empire, had been able to reconstitute large regular armies of citizens after greater

title: Western Roman Empire

text: in 306, in opposition to Valerius Severus. He succeeded in capturing the Western Empire in 307, and had Severus killed soon after. The Western Empire was invaded in 312 by Constantine, who decisively defeated Maxentius on 28 October 312, who drowned when his forces were pushed back into the Tiber river. Licinius was made Emperor of the Eastern Empire, and parts of the Western Empire, all of which was actually held by Maxentius, at the Council of Carnuntum, which was held in 308 in order to try and end the civil war in the Western Empire. Constantine invaded Licinius' section

title: Western Roman Empire

text: those of the Western Roman Empire, and administrative positions continued to be staffed exclusively by Romans. The senate continued to function as it always had and the laws of the Empire were recognized as ruling the Roman population, though the Goths were ruled by their own traditional laws. As a subordinate, Theoderic did not have the right to issue his own laws, only edicts or clarifications. The army and military offices were exclusively staffed by the Goths, however, who largely settled in northern Italy. Though acting as a subordinate in domestic affairs, Theodoric acted increasingly independent in his foreign policies.

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Constantine and Licinius. However, Constantine was more interested in conquering the whole empire than he was in the stability of the Tetrarchy, and by 314 began to compete against Licinius. Constantine defeated Licinius in 324, at the Battle of Chrysopolis, where Licinius was taken prisoner, and later murdered. After Constantine unified the empire, he refounded the city of Byzantium in modern-day Turkey as "Nova Roma" ("New Rome"), later called Constantinople, and made it the capital of the Roman Empire. The Tetrarchy was ended, although the concept of physically splitting the Roman Empire between two emperors remained. Although several powerful emperors

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Empire. On the death of Theodosius I in 395, he divided the empire between his two sons, with Honorius as his successor in the West, governing from Mediolanum, and Arcadius as his successor in the East, governing from Constantinople. In 476, after the Battle of Ravenna, the Roman Army in the West suffered defeat at the hands of Odoacer and his Germanic "foederati". Odoacer forced the deposition of emperor Romulus Augustulus and became the first King of Italy. In 480, following the assassination of the previous Western emperor Julius Nepos, the Eastern emperor Zeno dissolved the Western court and proclaimed

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Emperor Zeno. Zeno eventually granted Odoacer patrician status as recognition of his authority and accepted him as his viceroy of Italy. Zeno, however, insisted that Odoacer had to pay homage to Julius Nepos as the Emperor of the Western Empire. Odoacer accepted this condition and issued coins in the name of Julius Nepos throughout Italy. This, however, was mainly an empty political gesture, as Odoacer never returned any real power or territories to Nepos. The murder of Nepos in 480 prompted Odoacer to invade Dalmatia, annexing it to his Kingdom of Italy. By convention, the Western Roman Empire is deemed

title: Western Roman Empire

text: inherited the throne of the West at the age of ten whilst his older brother Arcadius inherited the East. The western capital was initially Mediolanum, as it had been during previous divisions, but it was moved to Ravenna in 402 upon the entry of the Visigothic king Alaric I into Italy. Ravenna, protected by abundant marshes and strong fortifications, was far easier to defend and had easy access to the imperial fleet of the Eastern Empire but made it more difficult for the Roman military to defend the central parts of Italy from regular barbarian incursions. Ravenna would remain the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Roman Empire and restore him to the Western Roman throne, which he did in 388. Maximus was defeated in battle near Aquileia, and executed. Theodosius was proclaimed Eastern Emperor by Gratian on 19 January 379, after securing victory against invading barbarians along the Danube. He became sole emperor in August 394, after defeating the usurper Eugenius. Theodosius died of edema in January 395. Honorius became Western Emperor in 395, after the death of his father Theodosius. His reign was beset by barbarian invasions, and for much of his early reign, until 408, he was controlled by Stilicho, whose influence over

title: Western Roman Empire

text: rule. Following the reconquest, Justinian swiftly reintroduced the Roman administrations of the province, establishing a new Praetorian Prefecture of Africa and taking measures to decrease Vandal influence, eventually leading to the complete disappearance of the Vandalic people. Following the execution of the pro-Roman Ostrogoth queen Amalasuntha and the refusal of Ostrogoth King Theodahad to renounce his control of Italy, Justinian ordered the expedition to move on to reconquer Italy, ancient heartland of the Empire. From 534 to 540, the Roman forces campaigned in Italy and captured Ravenna, the Ostrogothic and formerly Western Roman capital, in 540. The Gothic resistance revived

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: be described as Roman. Barbarian kingdoms had established their own power in much of the area of the Western Empire. While its legitimacy lasted for centuries longer and its cultural influence remains today, the Western Empire never had the strength to rise again. The Eastern Empire survived, and though lessened in strength remained for centuries an effective power of the Eastern Mediterranean. While the loss of political unity and military control is universally acknowledged, the Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events; the period described as Late Antiquity emphasizes the cultural continuities throughout and beyond the political

title: Western Roman Empire

text: Constantius made Trier his. In the East, Galerius made his capital Sirmium and Diocletian made Nicomedia his. On 1 May 305, Diocletian and Maximian abdicated, replaced by Galerius and Constantius, who appointed Maximinus II and Valerius Severus, respectively, as their caesars, creating the Second Tetrarchy. The Tetrarchy collapsed after the unexpected death of Constantius in 306. His son, Constantine the Great, was declared Western Emperor by the British legions, but several other claimants arose and attempted to seize the Western Empire. In 308, Galerius held a meeting at Carnuntum, where he revived the Tetrarchy by dividing the Western Empire between

title: Western Roman Empire

text: the Suebian general Ricimer used the opportunity to depose Avitus, counting on popular discontent. After the deposition of Avitus, the Eastern Emperor Leo I did not select a new western "Augustus". The prominent general Majorian defeated an invading force of Alemanni and was subsequently proclaimed Western Emperor by the army and eventually accepted as such by Leo. Majorian was the last Western Emperor to attempt to recover the Western Empire with his own military forces. To prepare, Majorian significantly strengthened the Western Roman army by recruiting large numbers of barbarian mercenaries, among them the Gepids, Ostrogoths, Rugii, Burgundians, Huns, Bastarnae,

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: wars, Theodosius I died, leaving a collapsing field army and the Empire, still plagued by Goths, divided between the warring ministers of his two incapable sons. Further barbarian groups crossed the Rhine and other frontiers, and like the Goths were not exterminated, expelled or subjected. The armed forces of the Western Empire became few and ineffective, and despite brief recoveries under able leaders, central rule was never effectively consolidated. By 476 when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the Western Roman Emperor wielded negligible military, political, or financial power and had no effective control over the scattered Western domains that could still

title: Western Roman Empire

text: word "Caesar"), the German word for emperor. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary, successor of the Austrian Empire, would both fall in the aftermath of the First World War along with the Russian and Ottoman Empires who had both claimed succession from the Eastern Roman Empire. With junior colleagues titled Caesar listed below the reign of each emperor. Maximian was elevated to "caesar" by Diocletian in 285, after Diocletian defeated Carinus. He became Western Emperor in 286, with the establishment of the Tetrarchy. On 1 May 305, both Maximian and Diocletian abdicated, leaving Constantius and Galerius as emperors. Constantius Chlorus was

title: Western Roman Empire

text: militum" Arbogast assassinated Valentinian II and proclaimed an obscure senator named Eugenius as Emperor. In 394 the forces of the two halves of the Empire again clashed with great loss of life. Again Theodosius I won, and he briefly ruled a united Empire until his death in 395. He was the last Emperor to rule both parts of the Roman Empire before the West fragmented and collapsed. Theodosius I's older son Arcadius inherited the eastern half while the younger Honorius got the western half. Both were still minors and neither was capable of ruling effectively. Honorius was placed under the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: experienced an economic decline throughout the Late Empire in some provinces. Southern Italy, northern Gaul (except for large towns and cities), and to some extent Spain and the Danubian areas may have suffered. The East fared better economically, especially as Emperors such as Constantine the Great and Constantius II had invested heavily in the eastern economy. As a result, the Eastern Empire could afford large numbers of professional soldiers and to augment them with mercenaries, while the Western Roman Empire could not afford this to the same extent. Even after major defeats, the East could, although not without difficulties, buy

title: Western Roman Empire

text: refer to the Empire centered in Constantinople. Following the end of the Eastern Roman Empire after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the title of "Emperor" became widespread among European monarchs. The Austrian Empire laid claim to be the heir of the Holy Roman Empire as Austria's Habsburgs attempted to unite Germany under their rule. The German Empire, established in 1871, also claimed to be a successor of Rome through the lineage of the Holy Roman Empire. Both of these empires used the imperial title "Kaiser" (derived from the Latin

title: Roman Emperors during the Fall of the Western Empire

text: Zeno was temporarily displaced in Constantinople by Verina's brother ("i.e.", Leo I's brother-in-law and Leo II's great uncle-in-law) "Basiliscus", but regained his position as emperor a year later. On his death, Ariadne married the court functionary "Anastasius I", and thereby elevated him to Emperor by virtue of marrying the Empress. Roman Emperors during the Fall of the Western Empire The office of Roman Emperor underwent significant turbulence in the fourth and fifth centuries, particularly under the period of the Dominate. In the West, where the fall of the Western Roman Empire was underway, its holders became puppets of a succession

text: Roman Emperors during the Fall of the Western Empire The office of Roman Emperor underwent significant turbulence in the fourth and fifth centuries, particularly under the period of the Dominate. In the West, where the fall of the Western Roman Empire was underway, its holders became puppets of a succession of barbarian kings. In the East, it began to assume autocratic trappings. Arbogast, Valentinian II’s general-in-chief, murdered him in May 392, and replaced him with a puppet Emperor, Eugenius, a former rhetorician. Eugenius was overthrown two years later by Theodosius I (see below), Valentinian II’s brother-in-law. Much as the Valentinian

title: Western Roman Empire

text: support from the Visigoths, his rule alienated both the Roman Senate and people. In 456 Ricimer, a senior officer, had Avitus deposed, and ruled the Western Empire through a series of puppet emperors until his death in 472. Majorian was proclaimed Western Emperor 1April 456, officially by Eastern Emperor Leo I, however in reality Leo's decision was swayed by the influence of Ricimer. On 7August 461, Majorian was compelled to abdicate, and reportedly died five days later of dysentery, although modern historians have asserted he was likely murdered. Libius Severus was proclaimed Western Emperor on 19 November 461. His rule,

title: Western Roman Empire

text: a restored Roman Empire alone, with the "Codex Justinianus" explicitly designating the new Praetorian Prefect of Africa as the subject of Justinian in Constantinople. Belisarius, loyal to Justinian, feigned acceptance of the title to enter the city, whereupon he immediately relinquished it. Despite Belisarius relinquishing the title, the offer had made Justinian suspicious and Belisarius was ordered to return east. At the end of Emperor Tiberius II's reign in 582, the Eastern Roman Empire retained control over relatively large parts of the regions reconquered under Justinian. Tiberius chose two "Caesares", the general Maurice and the governor Germanus, and married his

title: Western Roman Empire

text: rebellion, and in 378 they inflicted a crippling defeat on the Eastern Roman field army in the Battle of Adrianople, in which Emperor Valens also died. The defeat at Adrianople was shocking to the Romans, and forced them to negotiate with and settle the Visigoths within the borders of the Empire, where they would become semi-independent foederati under their own leaders. More than in the East, there was also opposition to the Christianizing policy of the Emperors in the western part of the Empire. In 379, Valentinian I's son and successor Gratian declined to wear the mantle of Pontifex Maximus,

title: Western Roman Empire

text: This led many of the soldiers to instead join with Alaric, who returned to Italy in 409 and met little opposition. Despite attempts by Honorius to reach a settlement and six legions of Eastern Roman soldiers sent to support him, the negotiations between Alaric and Honorius broke down in 410 and Alaric sacked the city of Rome. Though the sack was relatively mild and Rome was no longer the capital of even the Western Empire, the event shocked people across both halves of the Empire as this was the first time Rome (viewed at least as the symbolic heart of

title: Western Roman Empire

text: of the Third Century. He introduced the system of the tetrarchy in 286, with two separate senior emperors titled "Augustus", one in the East and one in the West, each with an appointed "Caesar" (junior emperor and designated successor). Though the tetrarchic system would collapse in a matter of years, the East–West administrative division would endure in one form or another over the coming centuries. As such, the Western Roman Empire would exist intermittently in several periods between the 3rd and 5th centuries. Some emperors, such as Constantine I and Theodosius I, governed as the sole "Augustus" across the Roman

title: Western Roman Empire

text: control of various barbarian kingdoms. With Odoacer recognising Julius Nepos, and later the Eastern Emperor Zeno, as his sovereign, nominal Roman control continued in Italy. Syagrius, who had managed to preserve Roman sovereignty in an exclave in northern Gaul (a realm today known as the Domain of Soissons) also recognized Nepos as his sovereign and the legitimate Western Emperor. The authority of Julius Nepos as Emperor was accepted not only by Odoacer in Italy, but by the Eastern Empire and Syagrius in Gaul (who had not recognized Romulus Augustulus). Nepos was murdered by his own soldiers in 480, a plot

title: History of the Roman Empire

text: Eastern Emperor, rather than naming himself Emperor as other Germanic chiefs had done, Odoacer ended the Western Empire by ending the line of Western Emperors. The eastern Empire exercised diminishing control over the west over the course of the next century. The empire in the East—known today as the Byzantine Empire, but referred to in its time as the "Roman Empire" or by various other names—ended in 1453 with the death of Constantine XI and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. Octavian, the grandnephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, had made himself a central military figure during

title: Legacy of the Roman Empire

text: ancient Roman paganism was largely displaced by Christianity after the 4th century AD and the Christian conversion of Roman emperor Constantine I (r. 306-337 AD). The Christian faith of the late Roman Empire continued to evolve during the Middle Ages and remains a major facet of the religion and the psyche of the modern Western world. Ancient Roman architecture, largely indebted to ancient Greek architecture of the Hellenistic period, has made a consistent impact on the architecture of the Western world, particularly during the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century. Roman law and republican politics (from the age of the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: of the Western Empire in 313, and forced him to sign a treaty in which he forfeited his claim to the Western Empire, and only controlled the Eastern Empire. Constantine I was proclaimed "caesar" of the Western Empire on 25 July 306. After 309 he proclaimed himself as the Western Emperor, in opposition to Maxentius and Licinius. He was the sole Western Emperor from 312–324, when he became both Western Emperor and Eastern Emperor. Constantine II was proclaimed "caesar" of the Eastern Empire in late 317. In 335, Constantine I allotted the inheritance his sons would receive after his death,

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: overthrew Stilicho to retain power. In 413 he led an invasion of Italy, lost to a subordinate of Constantius, and fled back to Africa where he was murdered by Constantius's agents. In January 414 Roman naval forces blockaded Ataulf in Narbo, where he married Galla Placidia. The choir at the wedding included Attalus, a puppet emperor without revenues or soldiers. Ataulf famously declared that he had abandoned his intention to set up a Gothic empire because of the irredeemable barbarity of his followers, and instead he sought to restore the Roman Empire. He handed Attalus over to Honorius's regime for

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: Age ancestors, they maintained identifiably Roman traits for some time, and they continued to look to their own defence as Honorius had authorized. Odoacer began to negotiate with the East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Zeno, who was busy dealing with unrest in the East. Zeno eventually granted Odoacer the status of patrician and accepted him as his own viceroy of Italy. Zeno, however, insisted that Odoacer had to pay homage to Julius Nepos as the Emperor of the Western Empire. Odoacer never returned any territory or real power, but he did issue coins in the name of Julius Nepos throughout Italy.

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: Nepos in 480. Gibbon gave a classic formulation of reasons why the Fall happened. He began an ongoing controversy by attributing a significant role to Christianity in the Western Roman Empire's fall, which is no longer accepted by modern Roman historians. However, he did give great weight to other causes of internal decline as well and to the attacks from outside the Empire. Alexander Demandt enumerated 210 different theories on why Rome fell, and new ideas have emerged since. Historians still try to analyze the reasons for loss of political control over a vast territory (and, as a subsidiary theme,

title: Roman Empire

text: to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself. Most chronologies place the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer. By placing himself under the rule of the Eastern Emperor, rather than naming himself Emperor (as other Germanic chiefs had done after deposing past emperors), Odoacer ended the Western Empire by ending the line of Western emperors. The empire in the East—often known as the Byzantine Empire, but referred to in its time as the Roman Empire or by various other names—had a different fate. It survived

text: emperor. Romulus, however, was not recognized by the Eastern Emperor Zeno and so was technically an usurper, Nepos still being the legal Western Emperor. Nevertheless, Romulus Augustus is often known as the last Western Roman Emperor. In 476, after being refused lands in Italy, Orestes' Germanic mercenaries under the leadership of the chieftain Odoacer captured and executed Orestes and took Ravenna, the Western Roman capital at the time, deposing Romulus Augustus. The whole of Italy was quickly conquered, and Odoacer was granted the title of patrician by Zeno, effectively recognizing his rule in the name of the Eastern Empire. Odoacer

title: Western Roman Empire

text: even as a puppet emperor, extended little beyond Italy, with Aegidius splitting off from the Western Empire, and establishing the Kingdom of Soissons. Libius Severus incited the hostility of the Vandals, who invaded Italy and Sicily. During these events, Libius Severus died on 14November 465, possibly due to being poisoned by Ricimer. Anthemius was proclaimed Western Emperor on 12April 467 by Leo I. Under Anthemius, the Western Empire, which had become increasingly isolated from the Eastern Empire, grew closer, although this collaboration came too late to save the Western Empire. Anthemius' friendly attitude towards the Eastern Empire angered Ricimer, who

title: Western Roman Empire

text: the Roman central government. However, in the reign of Claudius Gothicus (268 to 270), large expanses of the Gallic Empire were restored to Roman rule. At roughly the same time, several eastern provinces seceded to form the Palmyrene Empire, under the rule of Queen Zenobia. In 272, Emperor Aurelian finally managed to reclaim Palmyra and its territory for the empire. With the East secure, his attention turned to the West, invading the Gallic Empire a year later. Aurelian decisively defeated Tetricus I in the Battle of Châlons, and soon captured Tetricus and his son Tetricus II. Both Zenobia and the

title: Western Roman Empire

text: late as 507 AD. With the deposition of Romulus Augustus by Odoacer, direct roman control ceased to exist in Italy. Odoacer assumed control of the peninsula as a "de jure" representative of Western Roman Emperor Nepos. With the death of Nepos in 480, the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno abolished the title and position of Western Roman Emperor and assumed the role of Odoacer's sovereign. The position of Roman Emperor would never again be divided, though some new candidates for the position of Western emperor were proposed during and after the Eastern Roman re-conquests of the sixth century, such as Belisarius

title: History of the Roman Empire

text: Empire. The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century as Germanic migrations and invasions overwhelmed the capacity of the Empire to assimilate the migrants and fight off the invaders. The Romans were successful in fighting off all invaders, most famously Attila the Hun, though the Empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the Empire started to dismember itself. Most chronologies place the end of the Western Roman empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer. By placing himself under the rule of the

text: disease or environmental degradation may be the "apparent" causes of societal collapse, the ultimate cause is "diminishing returns on investments in social complexity". In "The Complete Roman Army" (2003) Adrian Goldsworthy, a British military historian, sees the causes of the collapse of the Roman Empire not in any 'decadence' in the make-up of the Roman legions, but in a combination of endless civil wars between factions of the Roman Army fighting for control of the Empire. This inevitably weakened the army and the society upon which it depended, making it less able to defend itself against the growing numbers of

title: Western Roman Empire

text: as the "Massonas" who allied himself with the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire against the Vandals in 535. As the Mauro-Roman realm shrank it eventually became known as the Kingdom of Altava after its capital city and it is believed that it fell during the Islamic conquests of the 700s. Alternatively, the kingdom may have been defeated by the Eastern Roman "magister militum" Gennadius in 578 and incorporated into the Empire once more. The deposition of Romulus Augustus and the rise of Odoacer as ruler of Italy in 476 received very little attention at the time. Overall, very little

title: Western Roman Empire

text: tutelage of the half-Roman/half-barbarian "magister militum" Flavius Stilicho, while Rufinus became the power behind the throne in the east. Rufinus and Stilicho were rivals, and their disagreements would be exploited by the Gothic leader Alaric I who again rebelled in 408 following the massacre by Roman legions of thousands of barbarian families who were trying to assimilate into the Roman empire. Neither half of the Empire could raise forces sufficient even to subdue Alaric's men, and both tried to use Alaric against the other half. Alaric himself tried to establish a long-term territorial and official base, but was never able

title: Legacy of the Roman Empire

text: emperor Romulus Augustulus, in 476, had also obtained the imperial regalia of the western part reuniting from a formal point of view the Roman Empire. The Roman line continued uninterrupted to rule the Eastern Roman Empire, whose main characteristics were Roman concept of state, medieval Greek culture and language, and Orthodox Christian faith. The Byzantines themselves never ceased to refer to themselves as "Romans" ("Rhomaioi") and to their state as the "Roman Empire", the "Empire of the Romans" (in Greek Βασιλεία των Ῥωμαίων, Basileía ton Rhōmaíōn) or "Romania" (Ῥωμανία, Rhōmanía). Likewise, they were called "Rûm" (Rome) by their eastern enemies

title: Domesticus (Roman Empire)

text: they gained enough notability. Constantius Chlorus was a Domesticus that after many successful military campaigns became one of the joint Emperors of the Roman empire with Maximian. Many of the notable Domestici of the Roman Empire existed around the time period which the Roman Empire was splitting into its eastern and western halves. Many of Diocletian successors mirrored his successes because they to after many military successes gained a lot of notability and took the throne as emperor from the sitting emperor but many of them didn't have long reigns because how unstable the western Roman Empire was. These emperors

title: Domesticus (Roman Empire)

text: were the ones that did realize because of their military experiences that it was not possible to sustain the size of the late Roman Empire leading to them continuing Diocletian’s idea to have it separated into the eastern and western halves. This cycle of instability and military rule in the western Roman Empire continued until its fall in 476, and Zeno the last emperor of the eastern Roman Empire and the First Emperor of the Byzantine Empire where he ruled from August in 476 until his death in April 491. As the Byzantine Empire was gaining strength economy, new patterns

title: Roman Empire

text: and local traditions. Several states claimed to be the Roman Empire's successors after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to resurrect the Empire in the West, was established in 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Frankish King Charlemagne as Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, though the empire and the imperial office did not become formalized for some decades. After the fall of Constantinople, the Russian Tsardom, as inheritor of the Byzantine Empire's Orthodox Christian tradition, counted itself the Third Rome (Constantinople having been the second). These concepts are known as Translatio imperii. When

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: the devastated provinces along the south bank of the Danube, where the regular garrisons were never fully re-established. In some later accounts, and widely in recent work, this is regarded as a treaty settlement, the first time that barbarians were given a home within the Empire in which they retained their political and military cohesion. No formal treaty is recorded, nor details of whatever agreement was actually made; when the Goths are next mentioned in Roman records, they have different leaders and are soldiers of a sort. In 391 Alaric, a Gothic leader, rebelled against Roman control. Goths attacked the

title: History of the Roman Empire

text: throne. Zeno granted Odoacer the title Patrician. Zeno told Odoacer and the Roman Senate to take Nepos back; however, Nepos never returned from Dalmatia, even though Odoacer issued coins in his name. Upon Nepos's death in 480, Zeno claimed Dalmatia for the East; J. B. Bury considers this the real end of the Western Roman Empire. Odoacer attacked Dalmatia, and the ensuing war ended with Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, conquering Italy under Zeno's authority. History of the Roman Empire The history of the Roman Empire covers the history of ancient Rome from the fall of the Roman

title: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

text: The rising Sassanid Empire inflicted three crushing defeats on Roman field armies and remained a potent threat for centuries. Other disasters included repeated civil wars, barbarian invasions, and more mass-mortality in the Plague of Cyprian (from 250 onwards). Rome abandoned the province of Dacia on the north of the Danube (271), and for a short period the Empire split into a Gallic Empire in the West (260–274), a Palmyrene Empire in the East (260–273), and a central Roman rump state. The Rhine/Danube frontier also came under more effective threats from larger barbarian groupings, which had developed improved agriculture and increased