Julius Nepos (430-22 June 480) was Western Roman Emperor from June 474 to 28 August 475 (succeeding Glycerius and preceding Romulus Augustulus) and from 4 September 476 to 480 (succeeding Romulus). He was the last Western Roman emperor, reigning in Dalmatia after the loss of Italia to Romulus. He was deposed and assassinated by the former emperor and current Bishop of Salona Glycerius on the orders the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in 480, and Zeno formally abolished the Western Roman Empire, allowing for Odoacer to annex Dalmatia to his Italian kingdom.
Biography[]
Flavius Julius Nepos was born in 430, the nephew of the Western Roman general Marcellinus. On his uncle's assassination in 468, he took command of the Roman Army in Illyricum, and the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno chose Julius Nepos as his candidate for Western Roman emperor in 474, sending him to depose the Burgundian general Gundobad's puppet emperor Glycerius. On 1 June 474, Julius Nepos arrived in Italia and deposed Glycerius, sparing his life and appointing him Bishop of Salona. Julius Nepos succeeded in recovering Arles and Marseille in Gaul through diplomatic interactions with the Visigoths, and he was forced to recognize Vandalic control over Roman Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Isles. In 475, the Western Roman general Flavius Orestes turned his barbarian foederati troops against Julius Nepos and named his son Romulus Augustulus emperor in Italia, forcing Julius Nepos to flee to Dalmatia, from which he continued to claim the Western Roman throne. In 476, the foederati rebelled against Orestes after being refused land grants in Gaul, and they deposed him and his son following their siege of Ravenna and named their Herulian leader Odoacer as King of Italy, notionally ending the Western Roman Empire. Julius Nepos asked the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno for military assistance in reconquering Italia, but Zeno received a better offer from Odoacer, who offered to recognize Eastern Roman sovereignty over Italy in exchange for being allowed to administer the country. Zeno agreed to have Odoacer as his client king, and, while Julius Nepos planned a campaign to reconquer Italy, he was murdered by two retainers at the instigation of Glycerius, allowing for Odoacer to take over Dalmatia and bring an end to the Western Roman Empire.