<P> Theodosius was the last Emperor who ruled over the whole Empire . After his death in 395, he gave the two halves of the Empire to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the East, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the West, with his capital in Milan and later Ravenna . The Roman state would continue to have two different emperors with different seats of power throughout the 5th century, though the Eastern Romans considered themselves to be the only ones who were fully Roman . Latin was used in official writings as much as, if not more than, Greek and the two halves were nominally, culturally and historically, if not politically, the same state . </P> <P> After 395, the emperors in the Western Roman Empire were usually figureheads, while the actual rulers were military strongmen who took the title of magister militum, patrician or both--Stilicho from 395 to 408, Constantius from about 411 to 421, Aëtius from 433 to 454 and Ricimer from about 457 to 472 . The year 476 is generally accepted as the formal end of the Western Roman Empire . That year, Orestes, having stolen power from the emperor Julius Nepos the year before, refused the request of Germanic mercenaries in his service for lands in Italy . The dissatisfied mercenaries, including the Heruli, revolted . The revolt was led by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer . Odoacer and his men captured and executed Orestes; weeks later they captured Ravenna and deposed Orestes' usurper son, Romulus Augustus . This event has been traditionally considered the fall of the Roman Empire in the West . Odoacer quickly conquered the remaining provinces of Italy . </P> <P> Odoacer returned the western imperial regalia to the eastern emperor, Zeno . Zeno soon received two deputations . One was from Odoacer requesting that his control of Italy be formally recognised by the empire, in which case he would in turn acknowledge Zeno's supremacy . The other deputation was from Julius Nepos, requesting support to regain the throne . Zeno granted Odoacer the title Patrician . Zeno told Odoacer and the Roman Senate to take Nepos back; however, Nepos never returned from Dalmatia, even though Odoacer issued coins in his name . Upon Nepos's death in 480, Zeno claimed Dalmatia for the East; J.B. Bury considers this the real end of the Western Roman Empire . Odoacer attacked Dalmatia, and the ensuing war ended with Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, conquering Italy under Zeno's authority . </P> <Ul> <Li> Empire </Li> </Ul>

What event turned rome into a true empire