Nepos, Julius
NEPOS, JULIUS, the last but one of the Roman emperors of the West (474-475). He was a nephew of Marcellinus, prince of Dalmatia, whom he succeeded in his principality. After the death of Olybrius the throne of the West remained vacant for some months, during which Italy was abandoned to barbarians. Being connected by marriage with Leo I., emperor of the East, he was selected by him to succeed Olybrius on the Western throne, and proclaimed at Ravenna. After capturing his rival Glycerius, who had been nominated by the army in 473, at the mouth of the Tiber, he was recognized as emperor in Rome, Italy and Gaul. The only event of the reign of Nepos was the inglorious cession to the Visigoths of the province of Auvergne. In 475 Orestes, father of Augustulus, afterwards the last emperor of the West, raised the standard of revolt and marched against Nepos at Ravenna. The emperor fled into Dalmatia, and continued to reside at Salona until his assassination by two of his own officers in 480, possibly at the instigation of Glycerius, who had been compelled to enter the church and had been appointed bishop of Salona.
See Tillemont, Hist, des empereurs, vi. ; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. 36.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
