178- Not With A Bang But A Whimper

April 30, 2012·28 min

The episode opens with Ricimer's discovery — possibly fabricated — of a letter from Eastern Emperor Leo ordering the deaths of Ricimer and Olibrius, which gives both men justification to unite against Anthemius. Ricimer immediately hails Olibrius as the new Western Augustus. Anthemius seals Rome and sends for reinforcements from Gaul, but the available forces there split: general Billimer marches to help Anthemius while Ricimer's nephew Gundabad marches against him. Billimer is defeated in July 472, and this battle marks the first historical appearance of Odoacer. With no hope of relief, Rome's citizens open the gates; Anthemius is hunted down in a church by Gundabad and beheaded. Olibrius, the new emperor backed by Vandal king Genseric, enjoys his triumph for only a few months before Ricimer dies of a massive hemorrhage in August 472 and Olibrius himself dies of dropsy in late October or November. Gundabad, inheriting Ricimer's role as virtual king of Italy, elevates the obscure palace guard captain Glycarius as emperor in March 473, a choice never recognized by Constantinople. Eastern Emperor Leo responds by backing Julius Nepos, nephew of the general Marcellinus and ruler of Dalmatia, to oust Glycarius. Nepos sails to Italy in June 474, and Glycarius surrenders without a fight; Nepos makes him bishop of Salona rather than executing him. The host pauses to explain the Visigoth and Ostrogoth distinction, noting he had deliberately avoided the anachronistic labels until this point, but that by the late 470s both terms are in common use: Visigoths are the western branch descended from Alaric's Goths now in Gaul, Ostrogoths are the eastern branch who remained near the Danube. Both Visigoth king Euric and Ostrogoth king Vitimer appear to have contemplated invading Italy, but neither does so, possibly due to Gundabad's diplomatic contacts. Leo I dies in January 474 and is succeeded nominally by his six-year-old grandson Leo II, with real power passing to the Isaurian general Zeno, who had risen after Leo used the North Africa debacle to execute the powerful general Aspar in 471. Zeno continues to back Nepos. Nepos makes a promising start, appointing Acticius — son of the former emperor Avitus — as magister militum and negotiating a land-swap peace with the Visigoths. But in early 475, Orestes, a soldier of Germanic descent who had once served as Attila the Hun's secretary and diplomat, is suddenly elevated to magister militum, either because Acticius freelanced the Gothic deal or because the Senate engineered the change to undermine Nepos. Orestes revolts, marches north, and Nepos flees by ship to Dalmatia, where he will remain in exile — with the deposed Glycarius as his personal bishop — until he is murdered in 480. Orestes does not claim the throne for himself but on October 31, 475 proclaims his teenage son Romulus Augustulus emperor in Ravenna. In August 476, federated soldiers demand land and better pay; Orestes refuses; the soldiers turn to their captain Odoacer, who leads a revolt, executes Orestes near Piacenza, kills Orestes' brother, and enters Ravenna. Odoacer spares the teenage Romulus Augustulus and exiles him to an estate in Campania. Odoacer then sends the imperial regalia to Constantinople with a message to Zeno stating that a single emperor is sufficient and that he will rule Italy in Zeno's name. The host closes by acknowledging that 476 was the endpoint he originally defined for the podcast, gives a humorous voice to Julius Nepos' objections, and promises a final epilogue episode.

As heard by us

A patient late-Rome episode that turns Visigoth and Ostrogoth from textbook labels into useful map-reading tools.

Late Rome here is less about one dramatic collapse than about names finally becoming useful. The host pauses the imperial endgame to explain why he has mostly avoided Visigoth and Ostrogoth until now: the terms came later and can muddy earlier events.

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Why you'd press play

You want the Goths sorted out before the terminology tangles again.

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