Category Archives: Roman and Byzantine History

Romulus Augustulus or Julius Nepos? Moreover, does it matter which one is the rightful last Western Roman Emperor?

The golden eagles embroidered on Constantine XI’s shoes.

“Grant that Cato, in life, was even greater than Caesar; was he greater in death than Otho?”

I look to see how much we can piece together about the last (Western) Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, from sources on Project Gutenberg.

A very long read examining how Suetonius, Tacitus, Plutarch, Cassius Dio, and Martial wrote about the peculiar life and death of Otho, who ruled as Roman Emperor for three months in 69 AD.

Do not tell he who will command 30 legions that he knows nothing and should take leave to paint gourds.

“The world is the stage, men are the actors; the events of life form the piece; fortune distributes the parts…”

〜Revisiting the end of the Western Roman Empire 1,544 years later〜

Reflecting on Emperor Constantine XI’s final prayers at the Hagia Sophia on the eve of the fall of Constantinople.

Recounting the heroic last stand in Constantinople of the last Emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, Constantine XI.