Romulus Augustulus

About Romulus Augustulus

Romulus Augustulus (c. 460 – c. 527 CE) holds a unique, if tragic, place in Western history as the last Western Roman Emperor. His reign was brief and essentially symbolic, marking the conventional end date of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE when he was deposed by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer. Despite the profound historical weight of his title-representing the final failure of a thousand-year-old state structure-his actual military or political agency was minimal. MIT's Pantheon project assigns him a Historical Popularity Index (HPI) Rank of #985, acknowledging the immense cultural significance of the historical moment he personifies.

His modern internet attention, however, suggests a significant historical echo: he garnered 361K Wikipedia views in 2025. This places his attention level at an almost perfectly balanced ~1x relative to his historical importance, indicating that while he is far from a top-tier historical celebrity, he receives attention largely commensurate with his symbolic role as the final emperor. This contrasts sharply with figures like Helena (#354 importance, only 20K views) or Musa I of Mali (#244 importance, only 17K views), who are historically ranked far higher but receive considerably less online traffic.

Interestingly, the data suggests his profile is experiencing modest but measurable growth, with both the Year-over-Year Change (+3.2%) and the 2025 Momentum (+4% from Q1 vs Q3) being positive. This minor surge may reflect ongoing academic or popular interest in the events surrounding the ultimate “End of Ancient Rome.”