Odoacer
A barbarian officer in Roman service who deposed the emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 and ruled Italy as king until Theoderic the Ostrogoth overthrew and killed him at Ravenna.
The Anonymus Valesianus says that Odoacer, son of Edico, came with a force of Sciri, killed the patrician Orestes, deposed Romulus Augustulus at Ravenna and was made king (Anonymus Valesianus 8.37–38; 10.45). Procopius calls him one of the emperor’s bodyguards, raised to power by barbarian troops to whom he then gave a third of the land of Italy (Procopius, Wars 5.1.5–8). Eugippius tells how, as a poorly dressed young man on his way to Italy, he visited the monk Severinus in Noricum, who foretold his rise, and how as king he granted the monk’s request to recall an exile (Eugippius, Life of Severinus 7; 32). The Anonymus says that he favoured the Arians (Anonymus Valesianus 10.48).
The emperor Zeno sent Theoderic and his Goths against him. Odoacer was beaten in the field, held out in Ravenna through a siege of three years, came to terms, and was then killed by Theoderic with his own hand (Anonymus Valesianus 11.49–56) (Procopius, Wars 5.1.24–25).
In the timeline
- AD 476, firm dateThe End of the Western Roman Empire
The general Odoacer deposes the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus at Ravenna and rules Italy as king. No Western emperor follows, and the bishops of Rome begin to deal with distant emperors and with kings of another confession.
Primary sources
Anonymus Valesianus, Latter Part (Chronica Theodericiana)
- Anonymus Valesianus 8.37–38; 10.45penelope.uchicago.edu
- Anonymus Valesianus 10.48penelope.uchicago.edu
- Anonymus Valesianus 11.49–56penelope.uchicago.edu
History of the Wars
- Procopius, Wars 5.1.5–8penelope.uchicago.edu
- Procopius, Wars 5.1.24–25penelope.uchicago.edu