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Rome Fell and Nobody Noticed
A barbarian heretic kept the Roman state running for thirty-three years
When I first began learning about the Roman Empire in middle school, I was most interested in what everyone else seems to be interested in — the time of Caesar and Augustus. Recently, however, I’ve become far more interested in the decline & fall of the Roman Empire. You always hear the date 476 as the definitive end. As far as dates go, 476 is as good a date as any to mark the end of the official Roman Empire, but it always struck me as a bit weird. After that date, could it be said that Rome no longer existed? When I investigated what Rome was like after 476, it seemed oddly continuous. The fundamental institutions mostly existed, and life went on as usual. Nobody at the time figured that was the end.
My favorite figure in the post-Roman period is Theoderic — ruling 493 to 526, twenty years after the “fall” of Rome. He took over the structure of the Roman Empire and ruled it as a functionally emperor-like figure. He was a Goth and an Arian Christian, or in other words, a barbarian and a heretic. He spent his youth as a hostage in Constantinople, which enabled him to understand the Roman system from the inside.
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The fall of 476 was notable primarily for symbolic reasons. A general named Odoacer deposed the last western Roman emperor and shipped off the imperial regalia to Constantinople — ending the chain of emperors. He controlled Italy not as emperor, but as king — albeit keeping the Roman civil service intact. Theoderic was sent by the Eastern Roman Emperor in order to depose Odoacer, which he did first with an army, then with his own hands, at a banquet.
When he took over the machinery of the Western Roman Empire, he was able to preserve it for 33 years, longer than the previous nine western emperors combined. Things that people associate with the Roman Empire continued on under his care. Roads were repaired, trade continued, things generally ran well. This isn’t to say that everything was wonderful, but it didn’t seem clear at the time that Rome was in terminal decline and would never again rise to where it used to be.
At a real level, the Roman governmental system remained. Theoderic was not an emperor per se, but he did hold official titles which were associated with the Roman Empire. He technically was titled as magister militum and patricius — the legal fiction legitimizing his rule as custodian of the Western Roman Empire. There’s a lot of symbolic continuity through those terms! The Consuls continued to be appointed — Theoderic chose the western consul and Constantinople confirmed his choices. In 519, Theoderic’s son in law Eutharic actually held the consulship together with emperor Justin. Theoderic’s imperial communications were written by Roman scribes and writers who continued writing in the Roman imperial style (chancery style), which was at that point extremely intricate and could only be interpreted by well educated Romans. Even the communications with his bureaucracy and other government officials utilized Roman means and methods. The Senate continued to meet under Theoderic’s rule — the continuity of local power was maintained. During Theoderic’s visit to Rome in 500, he addressed the Senate, organized one of the last games ever in Rome, and likely created the gold medallion of himself to commemorate the occasion.