Young Brunette Girl With A Pigtail Posing In The Ancient Ruins

476: Romulus Augustus, last Western Roman Emperor is forced to abdicate by Odoacer, a half Hunnish and half Scirian chieftain of the Germanic Heruli; Odoacer returns the imperial regalia to Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in Constantinople in return for the title of dux of Italy; traditionally, the most frequently cited date for the end of the Roman Empire (although the Eastern Roman Empire, based in Constantinople, would still continue to exist until 1453)
529 The Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I ordered the prominent philosophical schools of antiquity throughout the Eastern Roman Empire (including the famous Academy in Athens, among others) to close down—allegedly, because Justinian frowned upon the pagan nature of these schools
- Classical ancient history end
The transition period from Classical Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages is known as Late Antiquity. Some key dates marking that transition are: