Editing Romulus Augustulus (section)

== Later life ==
[[File:Napoli-casteldell'ovo02.jpg|thumb|[[Castel dell'Ovo]] or ''castellum Lucullanum'' in [[Naples]] in southern Italy, where Romulus Augustus lived following his deposition in 476. This is a more recent structure than the one to which he was exiled.]]
Odoacer spared the life of the young Romulus on account of his "youth and beauty".{{Sfn|Jones et al|1980|p=950}} Romulus was granted an annual [[pension]] of 6,000 ''[[Solidus (coin)|solidi]]'' (the normal income of a wealthy Roman senator) and granted an estate in [[Campania]] near [[Naples]] called the ''castellum Lucullanum'' (today called [[Castel dell'Ovo]]), originally built by the consul and general [[Lucullus|Lucius Licinius Lucullus]] in the 60s BC.{{Sfn|Jones et al|1980|p=950}}{{Sfn|Nathan|1997}} ''Castellum Lucullanum'' had once served as the retirement villa of [[Tiberius]] ({{Reign}}14–37), Rome's second emperor.{{Sfn|Nathan|1997}} By late antiquity, ''castellum Lucullanum'' must have been fortified, and it likely functioned as a small administrative and military centre in Campania.{{Sfn|Kos|2008|p=446}} Romulus was accompanied to Campania by a large retinue and some of his surviving relatives.{{Sfn|Nathan|1997}}

Romulus may have been alive as late as 507 or 511, when [[Theodoric the Great]], Odoacer's successor as king of Italy, wrote to a "Romulus" to confirm a grant made to him and his mother by [[Liberius (praetorian prefect)|Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius]], the [[praetorian prefect of Italy]], on Theoderic's authority.{{Sfn|Jones et al|1980|p=950}} Per [[Thomas Hodgkin (historian)|Thomas Hodgkin]], who translated the letter in 1886, the identification of Romulus in the letter as Romulus Augustus is strengthened by the name "Romulus" by this point not being very common and by the letter not giving the Romulus in question any titles or honorifics.{{efn|The letter is simply addressed ''Romulo Theodoricus rex'', "King Theodoric to Romulus".{{Sfn|Hodgkin|1886|p=175}}}} The absence of titles differentiates the letter from the vast majority of other letters preserved from Theodoric, as if neither the king nor his scribe were quite sure how to address a former emperor.{{Sfn|Hodgkin|1886|p=175}} If the Romulus in the letter is the same person as Romulus Augustulus, it is possible that the letter indicates that Romulus and his family had to renegotiate their financial arrangements and pension with the king because they had been drawn up under the reign of a different king.{{Sfn|Nathan|1997}} Given that Romulus is not mentioned in accounts of the later [[Gothic Wars|eastern Roman invasion of Italy]] in the mid-530s, he had likely died some time before the conflict.{{Sfn|Nathan|1997}}

Romulus may have played a role in founding a monastery around the remains of Saint [[Severinus of Noricum]] at ''castellum Lucullanum'' in the 480s or early 490s. A Roman noblewoman by the name of Barbaria, possibly Romulus' mother, also aided in founding the monastery.{{Sfn|Nathan|1997}}{{Sfn|Kos|2008|p=446}} This monastery became prominent under [[Pope Gregory I]] ({{Reign}}590–604) and was active until the 10th century.{{Sfn|Nathan|1997}}