JULIUS NEPOS. First Reign, 474-475 AD. AV Tremissis (1.43 gm). Ravenna mint. D N IVL NE-POS P F AVG, pearl diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Cross within wreath; COMOB. RIC X 3214; Lacam 69; Depeyrot 40/1; DOCLR 940. Good VF, light obverse die rust. Very Rare. $3,750.
CNR XXVII, June 2002, lot 83.
Julius Nepos was the last claimant to the western throne. After 475, coins in the name of Nepos were issued by the Goth Odovacar. Julius Nepos was the last man officially recognized as Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. A military warlord in Dalmatia with marriage ties to the Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I, Nepos seized the West Roman throne in June, 474 AD. Unlike his predecessor Glycerius, he received the diplomatic blessings of the East ernRoman Empire. Despite his military background, Nepos was unable to stop the Visigoths from conquering a large chunk of Gaul and Spain, and a treaty of 475 officially recognized an independent Visigothic state on formerly Roman territory. Later that year the Master of Soldiers, Orestes, rebelled with the intention of putting his young son, Romulus Augustus, on the throne in Nepos' place. Nepos managed to escape from Ravenna by sea and return to his princedom in Dalmatia. Romulus Augustus was never recognized as Emperor by Constantinople, and was unseated less than a year later by the Germanic warlord Odovacer.
Odovacar sent a deputation to the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno claiming that a Western Roman Emperor was no longer needed, and that he would be happy to rule Italy as regent for the Eastern Augustus. Nepos, from his exile in Dalmatia, protested, claiming he was still the legitimate Emperor of the West. Zeno diplomatically granted both men's requests; Odovacer's de facto rule of Italy was recognized, but Nepos retained the title Augustus of the West, although he no longer resided in Italy. Nepos lived on in Dalmatia until May 9, 480 AD, when he was murdered by two of his retainers, probably on orders from the man Nepos had deposed, Glycerius.
