<P> On September 4, 476, Odoacer forced then 16 - year - old Romulus Augustulus, whom his father Orestes had proclaimed to be Rome's Emperor, to abdicate . After deposing Romulus, Odoacer did not execute him . The Anonymus Valesianus wrote that Odoacer, "taking pity on his youth", spared Romulus' life and granted him an annual pension of 6,000 solidi before sending him to live with relatives in Campania . Odoacer then installed himself as ruler over Italy, and sent the Imperial insignia to Constantinople . </P> <P> By convention, the Western Roman Empire is deemed to have ended on 4 September 476, when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus and proclaimed himself ruler of Italy, but this convention is subject to many qualifications . In Roman constitutional theory, the Empire was still simply united under one emperor, implying no abandonment of territorial claims . In areas where the convulsions of the dying Empire had made organized self - defence legitimate, rump states continued under some form of Roman rule after 476 . Julius Nepos still claimed to be Emperor of the West and controlled Dalmatia until his murder in 480 . Syagrius son of Aegidius ruled the Domain of Soissons until his murder in 487 . The indigenous inhabitants of Mauretania developed kingdoms of their own, independent of the Vandals, with strong Roman traits . They again sought Imperial recognition with the reconquests of Justinian I, and they put up effective resistance to the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb . While the civitates of Britannia sank into a level of material development inferior even to their pre-Roman Iron Age ancestors, they maintained identifiably Roman traits for some time, and they continued to look to their own defence as Honorius had authorized . </P> <P> Odoacer began to negotiate with the East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Zeno, who was busy dealing with unrest in the East . Zeno eventually granted Odoacer the status of patrician and accepted him as his own viceroy of Italy . Zeno, however, insisted that Odoacer had to pay homage to Julius Nepos as the Emperor of the Western Empire . Odoacer never returned any territory or real power, but he did issue coins in the name of Julius Nepos throughout Italy . The murder of Julius Nepos in 480 (Glycerius may have been among the conspirators) prompted Odoacer to invade Dalmatia, annexing it to his Kingdom of Italy . In 488 the Eastern emperor authorized a troublesome Goth, Theoderic (later known as "the Great") to take Italy . After several indecisive campaigns, in 493 Theoderic and Odoacer agreed to rule jointly . They celebrated their agreement with a banquet of reconciliation, at which Theoderic's men murdered Odoacer's, and Theoderic personally cut Odoacer in half . </P> <P> The Roman Empire was not only a political unity enforced by violence . It was also the combined and elaborated civilization of the Mediterranean basin and beyond . It included manufacture, trade, and architecture, widespread secular literacy, written law, and an international language of science and literature . The Western barbarians lost much of these higher cultural practices, but their redevelopment in the Middle Ages by polities aware of the Roman achievement formed the basis for the later development of Europe . </P>

What caused the fall of the roman empire when