Julius Nepos

This article deals with Julius Nepos as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

OOC: This article deals with the RL Emperor, but his history- and other aspects of RL history- has been altered to fit my nation's storyline. All RL information has been culled from Wikipedia.

When Julius Nepos I, or, simply, "Julius Nepos", assumed the throne of the Western Empire in 474, it had become a shell of its former self. Contemporary writers made frequent references asking when, not if, the Roman Empire would fall, routinely giving Nepos the oars to a rapidly sinking ship. This, however, is not how Nepos saw it- upon assuming power in the West; he negotiated the return of Provence to Imperial control from the Visigoths in return for Auvergne, which Nepos could not control. He then tried to negotiate a settlement with the Vandals, who renewed their piratical attacks in the Mediterranean, but since the Vandal king Geiseric was on good terms with the Eastern Emperor Leo I, the Vandals felt no need to negotiate, leaving Nepos with no other option but to recognize Vandal over-lordship over Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, the Balearics, and North Africa.

In 475, Nepos made Orestes his Master of Soldiers, a move that would come back to haunt him. The ambitious Orestes wanted to have his son invested as Roman Emperor, so in late August he marched on Ravenna and installed his son, the puppet Emperor Romulus Augustus (labelled “Augustulus” by the Roman public who saw him as nothing more than Orestes’ lackey) on the throne. The East did not recognize Romulus as Emperor, insisting that Nepos was the legitimate ruler. On September 4, 476, Odoacer, Romulus’ Master of Soldiers, advanced on Ravenna and deposed Romulus, proclaiming himself the King of Italy. He received legitimacy for his actions only after the East, now led by Zeno, forced him to recognize Nepos (now in exile at Dalmatia), which he did grudgingly.

Nepos, however, did not want to serve as anyone’s lackey, so, while he was away in Dalmatia he gathered a force of about 10,000 and attempted to march on Ravenna, arriving there in the summer of 479. In the subsequent battle with Odoacer, Nepos- who picked up a few tricks from Orestes- inflicted a crushing defeat, totally annihilating Odoacer’s army- including Odoacer- while barely losing a man himself.

The effects of the battle were huge. First of all, it left Nepos the undisputed master of Provence, Italy and Dalmatia (Nepos’ old Roman territories), ending any German claims to the areas. Secondly, it re-established the Roman Empire as a power in the Mediterranean world, forcing the Germans to end their ambitions of making the Roman throne a puppet. Lastly- and this is related to the second point- it effectively ended the German threat to Roman power, allowing the Empire’s situation to stabilize. Following the historic battle at Ravenna, Almicadorus, a contemporary writer, wrote a poem praising Nepos, exclaiming, “by Jove! He really is the greatest Emperor ever!”

The win caused a great shift in Nepos’ thinking: now that he had effectively restored the Western Empire to greatness, he decided to end his tributes to Constantinople and ask for the formal reunification of the Empire at Rome. This was a thought that was entertained by Zeno (who felt the division of the Empire had outlived its usefulness), who had hoped to rule as the sole Emperor. However, reportedly, when Zeno asked Nepos who should be the sole ruler, Nepos quickly and enthusiastically responded, “me!” This caused Zeno to storm off in anger, leaving Nepos to sail back to Rome as the restored Western Emperor.

Upon his arrival back at Rome, Nepos underwent a major reformation project. With himself and the people of Rome believing that he had restored the old Roman glory, Nepos decided that what Rome needed as a more traditionalist bent. In 482, he restored the gladiatorial contests banned by Honorius in 410 (although now gladiators could come from the citizen body), and staged a massive Triumph in Rome to commemorate his rule. In 483, he officially restored Rome as the capital of the Empire, commenting, “why was this even changed in the first place?” In 484, Nepos established Rome as the first state to offer freedom of religion, allowing the religion of the old pagan gods to be restored (though he stopped short of making it the state religion as in the past). Finally, in 485 he restored the power of the Roman Senate, allowing the office of the Emperor to officially join the Senatorial class (although the Emperor was still a hereditary position and still had the power to veto any Senatorial decision). He also massively reorganized the economy of the Empire and opening trade links with the Germanic kingdoms, which revitalized the West’s economy immensely.

In 493, the Ostrogoths- with the backing of the Eastern Empire- decided to launch an invasion of Italy with the aim of deposing Nepos and making Zeno the sole Roman Emperor. Nepos, in his diplomatic wisdom, sent a delegation to the Ostrogoths in order to ward off an attack- however, Theodoric, the Ostrogothic king, rebuffed Nepos’ attempt (which apparently called for the surrender of Provence in return for Nepos being able to keep Italy), officially declaring war on Nepos later in the year. Fearing for the Empire’s safety, he decided to form a temporary alliance with the Vandals, Visigoths and Franks (against the wishes of the Senate who did not trust the Germans) to meet the Ostrogothic threat. The ensuing battle- at Pavia in October- laid a decisive defeat on the Ostrogoths, who now turned their attention eastward. Believing to have been betrayed by the Eastern Empire, the Ostrogoths invaded them, taking most of the Balkans with them and killing the Emperor Zeno in 494.

By the time he died in 513, Nepos had taken an Empire that was on the brink of collapse and led it to the restoration of its old glory. The Roman Empire under Nepos was probably at the strongest it had ever been since the time of Augustus, if not stronger. He corrected many of the Empire’s mistakes of the 5th century and effectively updated the Empire’s image to fit the current landscape of the 6th, allowing the old pagan traditions of Rome- such as the gladiators- to come back but also to operate side-by-side with the new Christian identity of the Empire. However, as time would prove, he was not completely successful with this- although paganism and Christianity were allowed, the two factions would be at loggerheads with each other for many centuries, with, in an ironic twist of fate, the paganists sometimes being persecuted under the rule of the more Christian-oriented Roman rulers. Regardless, Nepos etched himself into history as one of Rome’s greatest rulers, if not the greatest, for not just reviving a state, but also an Empire.