Julius Nepos - Rise To Power

Rise To Power

Nepos was married to the niece of Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I, hence his nepos — "nephew" — agnomen, and was named as Emperor in the West by Leo in 474, in order to end the reign of the usurper Glycerius, who had been raised to the throne by the Burgundian magister militum Gundobad in the western capital of Ravenna. Under Roman law, Leo was the sole legitimate Emperor and had the right to select a new western counterpart. He chose Nepos, a relative and already governor of the province of Dalmatia, technically a part of the western empire but in practical terms an autonomous region since at least the time of Marcellinus' rule there. In June 474 Nepos entered Ravenna, forced Glycerius to abdicate, and secured the western throne for himself. Glycerius was exiled to Dalmatia as bishop of the city of Salona, where he and Nepos may have crossed paths again.