Romulus Augustus (c.462-after 476), last Western Roman Emperor. Romulus was the son of Orestes, who placed the 14 year old Romulus on the throne when Orestes deposed the previous emperor, Julius Nepos. Romulus was little more than a figurehead and reigned for just ten months before being deposed himself, by the German chieftan Odoacer. His fate thereafter is unknown, although it is thought he died before about 488. Orestes was captured and executed in 476. The coup of Odoacer is generally held to be the start of the Middle Ages (also the Dark Ages) in western Europe. Many have pointed out that western Rome's last emperor bore the name of its legendary founder (Romulus) and its first true emperor (Augustus). This woodcut comes from Giovio's Elogia vivorum bellica virtute illustrium, printed at Basle in 1596.