Last of the Romans

The term Last of the Romans (Ultimus Romanorum) has historically been used to describe a man thought to embody the values of Ancient Roman civilization—values which, by implication, became extinct on his death. It has been used to describe a number of individuals. The first recorded instance was Julius Caesar's description of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder as the one with whom the old Roman spirit would become extinct.

Many people have been called "Last of the Romans":

• Gaius Cassius Longinus (Died 42 BC), so called by Brutus and by the ancient historian Aulus Cremutius Cordus.
• Gaius Asinius Pollio (BC 75–AD 4), one of the last great orators and writers of the Roman Republic.
• Valens (328–378), the Emperor who led his army to a catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Adrianople.
• Ambrosius Aurelianus (5th century), a Romano-British military commander against the Anglo-Saxon invasion.
• Flavius Aëtius (396?–454), a general in the late Western Roman Empire who defended the Gauls against the Franks and other barbarians, and defeated Attila in the Catalaunian Fields near Châlons, in 451. So called by Procopius.^[1]
• Bonifacius (died 432), a general in the late Western Roman Empire. Rival of Flavius Aëtius.
• Stilicho, a powerful Roman general in the early 5th century.^[2]
• Ovida (?–480) the last Roman commander in Illyricum, defeated and killed by Odoacer.
• Syagrius (430–?487), the last Roman commander in Gaul before the invasion of the Franks.
• Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480–?525), one of the last great philosophers of Rome.
• Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c 485 - c 580), Roman statesman and writer.
• Justinian I "the Great" (?482–565), second of the Justinian Dynasty, and probably the last Byzantine emperor to speak Latin as a first language.^[3]
• Flavius Belisarius (505?–565), one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire and one of the most acclaimed generals in history. He was also the only Byzantine general to be granted a Roman Triumph.
• Gregory the Great (540?–604), an influential Pope and native to Rome.^[4]
• Thomas Carlyle called Samuel Johnson "Ultimus Romanorum".^[5]
• Alexander Pope called William Congreve "Ultimus Romanorum" (1670-1729).^[6]

In the United States, "last of the Romans" was used on numerous occasions during the early 19th century as an epithet for the political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolutionary War, or established the United States Constitution.^[7]

In a more literal sense, "Last of the Romans" could also refer to:

• Romulus Augustulus, the last de facto Western Roman Emperor.
• Julius Nepos, the last de jure Western Roman Emperor.
• Constantine XI Paleologus, the last de facto Eastern Roman Emperor.
• David of Trebizond, the last of the "Great Komnenoi"
• Andreas Palaiologos, the last de jure Eastern Roman Emperor.
• Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Prince of the Kingdom of Gwynedd, the last post-Roman (Romano-British) successor state to fall in the West. ^[8]
• Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor.
• Nicholas II, the last emperor of the Russian Empire, the Third Rome.^[9]

References

1. ↑ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 
2. ↑ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 
3. ↑ Wickham, Chris (2009). The Inheritance of Rome. Penguin Books. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-670-02098-0. 
4. ↑ "Message for the 14th centenary of the death of Pope St Gregory the Great". The Vatican. 22 October 2003. 
5. ↑ Carlyle, Thomas (1840). On Heroes, Hero-worship, and the Heroic in History. 
6. ↑ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 
7. ↑ Elizabeth Fox-Genovese; Eugene D. Genovese (2005). The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview. Cambridge University Press. p. 278. 
8. ↑ Ward-Perkins Bryan, “Why Did the Anglo-Saxons Not Become More British”, Trinity College, Oxford, 2000.
9. ↑ Seton-Watson, Hugh (1967). The Russian Empire, 1801–1917. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-19-822152-5.