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In AD 476 the Germanic general Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor in the West. The Eastern Roman Empire, ruled from Constantinople, lasted almost a thousand years longer, until the Ottomans took the city in 1453.

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Romulus Augustulus was a boy, put on the throne by his father, the general Orestes, and he reigned for only ten months. Odoacer did not name a new emperor. He made himself king of Italy and sent the symbols of the western emperor's office to Emperor Zeno in Constantinople, as if to say that one emperor, in the East, was now enough. The eastern empire kept Roman law and government, and its people called themselves Romans (Rhomaioi) to the end; the name “Byzantine Empire” came into wide use only after it had fallen. Its neighbours saw it the same way. Arabs and Turks called its people Rum, “Romans”, and the Ottoman name for the Balkans, Rumeli, “land of the Romans”, comes from the same word. The army of Mehmed II took Constantinople on 29 May 1453.

Türkçe oku
MS 476'da Germen kökenli komutan Odoaker, Batı Roma'nın son imparatoru Romulus Augustulus'u tahttan indirdi. Konstantinopolis'ten yönetilen Doğu Roma İmparatorluğu ise neredeyse bin yıl daha ayakta kaldı ve ancak 1453'te, Osmanlılar kenti fethedince yıkıldı.

Romulus Augustulus, babası komutan Orestes'in tahta oturttuğu bir çocuktu ve yalnızca on ay hüküm sürdü. Odoaker onun yerine yeni bir imparator koymadı. Kendini İtalya kralı ilan etti ve Batı imparatorluğunun hükümdarlık alametlerini Konstantinopolis'teki İmparator Zenon'a gönderdi. Verdiği mesaj açıktı: Artık tek bir imparator, doğudaki imparator yeterdi. Doğu Roma, Roma hukukunu ve devlet düzenini sürdürdü; halkı da sonuna kadar kendine “Romalı” (Rhomaioi) dedi. “Bizans İmparatorluğu” adı ancak devlet yıkıldıktan sonra yaygınlaştı. Komşuları da onu böyle görüyordu: Araplar ve Türkler bu devletin insanlarına “Romalılar” anlamında Rum dedi. Osmanlıların Balkanlara verdiği Rumeli, yani “Rumların ülkesi” adı da buradan gelir. Fatih Sultan Mehmed'in ordusu İstanbul'u 29 Mayıs 1453'te fethetti.

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