Odoacer

(noun)

A soldier, who came to power in the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Related Terms

Examples of Odoacer in the following topics:

  • Odoacer and the Fall of Rome

    • In his quest to destroy Odoacer, Zeno promised Theoderic the Great and his Ostrogoths the Italian peninsula if they were to defeat and remove Odoacer from power.
    • On August 28, Odoacer met him at the Isonzo, only to be defeated.
    • By this time, Odoacer had to have lost all hope of victory.
    • In response to Odoacer's dying question, "Where is God?"
    • Coin of Odoacer, Ravenna, 477, with Odoacer in profile, depicted with a "barbarian" moustache.

  • Theoderic the Great

    • Ostensibly a viceroy for Zeno, Odoacer was menacing Byzantine territory and not respecting the rights of Roman citizens in Italy.
    • At Zeno's encouragement, Theoderic invaded Odoacer's kingdom.
    • On February 2, 493, Theoderic and Odoacer signed a treaty that assured both parties would rule over Italy.
    • It was at this banquet that Theoderic, after making a toast, drew his sword and struck Odoacer on the collarbone, killing him.
    • Like Odoacer, Theoderic was ostensibly only a viceroy for the emperor in Constantinople.

  • The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

    • By 476 CE, when Odoacer deposed the Emperor Romulus, the Western Roman Empire wielded negligible military, political, or financial power and had no effective control over the scattered Western domains that could still be described as Roman.
    • In 476, after being refused lands in Italy, Orestes' Germanic mercenaries under the leadership of the chieftain Odoacer captured and executed Orestes and took Ravenna, the Western Roman capital at the time, deposing Western Emperor Romulus Augustus.
    • The whole of Italy was quickly conquered, and Odoacer's rule became recognized in the Eastern Empire.
    • Charlotte Mary Yonge's 1880 artist rendition of Romulus Augustus resigning the crown to Odoacer.

  • The Germanic Tribes

    • Political and diplomatic leaders, such as Odoacer and Theoderic the Great, changed the course of history in the late 400s CE and paved the way for later kings and conquerors.
    • Odoacer, a German general, took over the Western Roman Empire in his own name, becoming the first barbarian king of Italy.
    • Theoderic the Great became a barbarian king of Italy after he killed Odoacer.

  • The Coronation of 800 CE

    • When Odoacer compelled the abdication of Romulus Augustulus, he did not abolish the Western Empire as a separate power, but caused it to be reunited with or sink into the Eastern, so that from that time there was a single undivided Roman Empire ...

  • Justinian and Theodora

    • The end of the Western Empire is sometimes dated to 476, early in Zeno's reign, when the Germanic Roman general Odoacer deposed the titular Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus, but declined to replace him with another puppet.