Among ancient sources, the poet Simonides, another near-contemporary, says the campaign force numbered 200, 000 ; while a later writer, the Roman Cornelius Nepos estimates 200, 000 infantry and 10, 000 cavalry, of which only 100, 000 fought in the battle, while the rest were loaded into the fleet that was rounding Cape Sounion ; Plutarch and Pausanias both independently give 300, 000, as does the Suda dictionary.

Although the empire was again subdivided and a co-emperor sent to Italy at the end of the fourth century, the office became unitary again only 95 years later at the request of the Roman Senate and following the death of Julius Nepos, last Western Emperor.

The Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the translatio imperii ( transfer of rule ) principle that regarded the Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of Julius Nepos in 480.

Romulus Augustus ( born perhaps around 460 – died after 476, possibly alive around 500 ), is sometimes considered the last Western Roman Emperor ( although by other accounts the last Western Roman Emperor was Julius Nepos ), reigning from 31 October 475 until 4 September 476.

He was installed as emperor by his father Orestes, the magister militum ( master of soldiers ) of the Roman army after deposing the previous emperor Julius Nepos.

Orestes was appointed Magister militum by Julius Nepos in 475.

As Romulus was an usurper, Julius Nepos claimed to legally hold the title of emperor when Odoacer took power.

While Zeno told the Senate that Nepos was their lawful sovereign, he did not press the point, and accepted the imperial insignia brought to him by the senate.

Elevated by his Magister militum, Gundobad, Glycerius ’ elevation was rejected by the court at Constantinople, and he was ousted by Julius Nepos.

Glycerius took up residence at Salona, which in 475 saw the arrival of Julius Nepos, who had retreated to Dalmatia in the face of a coup by Magister militum Orestes ; he was still in Salona when, in 476 Orestes ' son, the usurper Romulus Augustus, was deposed by Odoacer, King of the Heruli.

The historian Malchus maintains that in 480 Glycerius was a member of the conspiracy that led to Emperor Nepos ' death and thus sought the favour of Odoacer ; however, the news of Glycerius ' appointment to the prestigious rank of Bishop of Milan, which would support the theory of the collaboration between Glycerius and Odoacer, is usually considered a rumor.

Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos ' death in 480, of the Emperor in Constantinople.

The word Roman was a reflection of the translatio imperii ( transfer of rule ) principle that regarded the ( Germanic ) Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of Julius Nepos in 480.

Julius Nepos ( c. 430 – 480 ) was Western Roman Emperor de facto from 474 to 475 and de jure until 480.

Nepos, already the ruler of Roman Dalmatia, was nominated by the Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I in early 474, to replace the Western Emperor Glycerius, who was regarded as a usurper.

It was probably Nepos ' marriage to the emperor Leo's wife's niece which earned him the agnomen of " Nepos " ( nephew ).

Nepos ' rule in Italy ended in 475, when he was deposed by his magister militum, Orestes.

Patrician rank was granted, but at Zeno's insistence Odoacer also grudgingly acknowledged Nepos ' Imperial status, and even issued coinage in Nepos ' name.

In practical terms, Odoacer was an increasingly independent King of Italy, nominally recognizing the Eastern Empire's suzerainty ; Nepos retained claim to the Imperial title, but exercised no real power outside of Dalmatia.

Avitus had two sons, Agricola ( 440 – after 507, a vir inlustris ) and Ecdicius Avitus ( later patricius and magister militum under Emperor Julius Nepos ) and a daughter Papianilla ; she married Sidonius Apollinaris, whose letters and panegyrics remain an important source for Avitus ' life and times.

Being discovered, Licinia was outcast and branded as an adulteress but Metellus Nepos, rather than lose her, divorced his wife and married her less than a week after.

He was the father of another Publius Metilius Nepos, Consul Suffectus in 103 and again designated for 128, dying in 127 or 128, who married Pontia and had issue Publius Metilius Secundus Nepos, Consul Suffectus in 123, married to Aquilia, with female issue.

Julius Nepos had married a niece of Verina and Leo I.

* Julius Nepos, Western Roman Emperor, husband of a niece of Leo I

The Eastern Emperor Leo, who died in 474, had appointed the western emperors Anthemius and Julius Nepos, and Constantinople never recognized the new government.

Therefore Leo chose a candidate on his own, Julius Nepos, Magister militum in Dalmatia and related to the Eastern Empress Verina.

One possible reason is that Glycerius ' elevation, not recognised by Eastern court, received the support of neither the Roman Senate nor the Gallic-Roman aristocracy ; resisting Nepos without the support of the Senate would have been a bad choice for Gundobad.

Odoacer, attempting to bypass Nepos, used the Roman Senate to petition the Eastern Emperor, Zeno ; he requested the rank of Patrician for himself, and sought to end the separate line of Western Emperors.

Having recently made peace with the Eastern Empire, Geiseric saw no need to make new concessions to Nepos.

In practical terms, Odoacer was an increasingly independent king, nominally recognizing the Eastern Emperor's suzerainty, with Nepos retaining a tenuous claim on the Imperial rank.

The division of the empire into Western and Eastern was formally abolished as a separate entity by Emperor Zeno after the death of the last Western Emperor Julius Nepos in 480.

Nepos fled to Dalmatia and continued to have the allegiance of the balance of the Western Empire ( essentially northern Gaul, Dalamatia, and Morocco ) and the backing of the Eastern Empire authorities.

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.

Romulus, however, was not recognized by the Eastern Emperor Zeno and so was technically an usurper, Nepos still being the legal Western Emperor.

Julius Nepos, who had been nominated by the Eastern Emperor Zeno, was deposed by the rebelled magister militum Orestes, who installed his own son Romulus in the imperial throne.

Glycerius was deposed ( but not killed ) by Julius Nepos, the candidate ( and nephew-in-law ) of the Eastern Emperor, who was in turn driven into exile in Dalmatia in 475 by his master of the soldiers, Orestes, who installed his own son Romulus " Augustulus " (" Little Augustus ").

Orestes was killed and Romulus deposed ( but not killed ) by Odoacer in 476, and Julius Nepos continued to reign as Emperor-in-exile until his death in 480 ( the Eastern Emperor did not recognise Romulus Augustulus and considered him a usurper ).

* 475 – The Roman general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital city, Ravenna.

After the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, with the beginning of the Migration Period, Julius Nepos shortly ruled his diminished domain from the Diocletian palace after his 476 flight from Italy.

* 474 – Julius Nepos forces Roman usurper Glycerius to abdicate the throne and proclaims himself Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

Some historians regard Julius Nepos, who ruled in Dalmatia until being murdered in 480, as the last lawful Western Roman Emperor.

Most names shown are the Latin names of 5th century peoples, with the exceptions of Syagrius ( king of a Gallo-Roman rump state ), Odoacer ( Germanic peoples | Germanic king of Italy ), and Julius Nepos | ( Julius ) Nepos ( nominally last Western Roman emperor, de facto ruler of Dalmatia ).

* 480: Assassination of Julius Nepos, the last de jure Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, in Dalmatia.

* Julius Nepos, de jure ruler, becomes legally the last " Western Roman Emperor.

* The Roman Senate petitions Zeno to recognize Nepos as deposed and take the sole emperorship himself, abolishing the 91 year east / west division of the empire and recognizing Odoacer's authority in Italy.

* Julius Nepos, Western Roman Emperor ( d. 480 )

* Julius Nepos, former emperor of the Western Roman Empire, dies in exile in Dalmatia.

* Julius Nepos, Western Roman Emperor

* Julius Nepos, former emperor of the Western Roman Empire, plots military plans in Dalmatia against Odoacer, hoping to regain control of Italy himself.