Julius Nepos - Family

Family

As is the case with many Roman Emperors who reigned for only a short period of time, particularly those from the final decades of the western empire, there is only limited information about Nepos available in surviving records.

It is generally accepted that Julius Nepos was son of the comes Nepotianus, a general (magister utriusque militiae) who served the Western Roman Empire between 458 and 461 during the reign of Majorian. Nepotianus is mentioned as having been active in southern Gaul and in Hispania, eventually dying in 465. His unnamed mother was a sister of Marcellinus, magister militum of Dalmatia.

This identification has been denied by historian R. W. Burgess, who starts by observing that the claim reposes on a single passage from Jordanes' Romana. He then proceeds to argue that, while Nepos came from an important family, the general Nepotianus was a mercenary commander working for the Visigoths; from which came his title of magister militiae. Thus, Burgess concludes his argument that Nepotianus father of Nepos, and the military commander Nepotianus, should be considered as two different individuals.

The 6th-century chronicler Marcellinus Comes mentions Nepos as "son of the sister of Marcellinus, once patrician". This identification of Nepos is confirmed by a passage in Jordanes' Getica. Since Jordanes often uses Marcellinus Comes as a source, the passage might have been copied verbatim.

Marcellinus was a powerful figure in the Western Roman Empire, rebelling in 454 against the Emperor Valentinian III after the latter's assassination of Flavius Aetius. He established himself as an autonomous ruler in Dalmatia, despite accepting the authority of the emperors Majorian and Anthemius. Under Anthemius he was raised to the rank of patrician, becoming a possible threat to Ricimer, the powerful kingmaker behind the western throne. In 468, Marcellinus died in Sicily, probably at the hands of Ricimer. Nepos inherited control of Dalmatia from his uncle, gaining the title magister militum Dalmatiae, and with it a powerbase which would be integral to his future career.

Nepos may have been a member of enduringly-prominent Dalmatian family. Four memorial inscriptions commemorating similarly-named individuals, from the same region and falling within an appropriate time-frame, have been identified: Aelia Nepotes, Aelia Nepos, Julius Nepos, and Nepotes. The name also seems to be preserved in a church inscription of Salona, dating to the early 5th century. Although the association of the agnomen "Nepos" with his connection to the Leonid dynasty seems to be fairly clear, the origins of and relationships between all these simillar-sounding names, including his father's, are less clear. Also unclear is what role Nepos' ties of kinship with Marcellinus might have played in the acquisition of his agnomen.