Western Roman Emperors

Roman Empire
Senatus Populusque Romanus Imperium Romanum
Western division of the Roman Empire
285–476
Tremissis depicting Flavius Julius Nepos (474-480), the de jure last Emperor of the Western Court
The Western Roman Empire at its greatest extent ca. AD 395
Capital		Mediolanum (286–402) Ravenna (402–476)
Languages		Latin (official) Koine Greek, Aquitanian, Gaulish, Common Brittonic, Gothic, Neo-Punic
Religion		Roman religion until 380 Christianity (state church) after 380
Government		, Tetrarchy (293–313)
Emperor
•	395–423	Honorius
•	457–461	Majorian
•	475–476	Romulus Augustulus
Consul
•	395	Flavius Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius, Flavius Anicius Probinus
•	476	Basiliscus, Flavius Armatus
Legislature		Roman Senate
Historical era		Late Antiquity
•	Division of Diocletianus	285
•	Division after Constantine I	337
•	Division by Valentinian I	364
•	Division after Theodosius I	395
•	Deposition of Romulus Augustus	4 September 476
Area
•	395	2,000,000 km² (772,204 sq mi)
Currency		Roman currency
Preceded by Succeeded by Roman Empire Kingdom of Italy (476-493) Visigothic Kingdom Domain of Soissons Domain of Moor Sub-Roman Britain Kingdom of Burgundy Francia Vandal Kingdom Alamannia Suebic Kingdom of Galicia Armorica San Marino
Today part of		Various countries  Algeria  Andorra  Austria  Belgium  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  France  Germany  Gibraltar  Guernsey  Hungary  Italy  Jersey  Liechtenstein  Libya  Luxembourg  Malta  Monaco  Morocco  Netherlands  Portugal  San Marino  Serbia  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain   Switzerland  Tunisia  United Kingdom   Vatican City

Tremissis depicting Flavius Julius Nepos (474-480),
the de jure last Emperor of the Western Court

In historiography, the Western Roman Empire consists of the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any one time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court, coequal with (or only nominally subordinate to) that administering the eastern half. Both "Western Roman Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" (or "Byzantine Empire") are modern terms describing de facto independent entities; however, at no point did the Romans consider the Empire split into two, but rather considered it a single state governed by two separate Imperial courts out of administrative expediency. The view that the Empire was impossible to govern by one emperor was established by Diocletian following the disastrous civil wars and disintegration of the Crisis of the 3rd century, and was instituted in Roman law by his introduction of the Tetrarchy in AD 285, a form of government which was legally to endure in one form or another for centuries. The Western Court was periodically abolished and recreated for the next two centuries until final abolition by Zeno in 480, by which time there was little effective central control left in the area legally administered by the Western Court.

The Western Roman Empire existed intermittently in several periods between the 3rd and 5th centuries, after Diocletian's Tetrarchy and the reunifications associated with Constantine the Great and Julian the Apostate (331/2–363). Theodosius I divided the Empire upon his death (in 395) between his two sons. Finally, eighty-five years later, Zeno of the Eastern Empire recognized the reality of the Western Empire's reduced domain—Roman power ceased to exist even in the Italian Peninsula—after the deposition of Romulus Augustus and the subsequent death of Julius Nepos, and therefore proclaimed himself the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.