470 – 480s

Events in the 470s 3

• 753 BC – 476 The Roman Civilisation The Roman civilisation — kingdom, republic and empire — shaped Western law, language, architecture, religion and governance more profoundly than any other ancient civilisation. From the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC to the deposition of the last western emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD, Rome endured for over twelve centuries, governing at its peak an empire of 70 million people stretching from Scotland to Mesopotamia.
• 476 – 550 Aryabhata and the concept of zero Indian mathematics transforms the world The mathematician-astronomer Aryabhata (b. 476) and his successors developed the decimal place-value system and the use of zero as a number — innovations that, transmitted through the Arab world to Europe, became the foundation of modern mathematics. Aryabhata also proposed that the Earth rotates on its axis.
• 476 Fall of the Western Roman Empire On 4 September 476 AD, the Germanic chieftain Odoacer deposes Romulus Augustulus — the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire — at Ravenna. Romulus is a teenager, and his very name — combining the founder of Rome with the founder of the empire — gives the moment a bitter symmetry. Odoacer sends the imperial regalia to Constantinople, declaring there is no need for a separate western emperor. Edward Gibbon will later mark this date as the end of ancient history. The Eastern Empire — Byzantium — continues for another 977 years.