Odoacer

First barbarian king of Italy (r. 476-493)

• Born: c. 435
• Birthplace: Central Europe
• Died: c. March 15, 493
• Place of death: Ravenna (now in Italy)

Although of uncertain ethnic background, Odoacer forged a powerful war band, deposed the last Western Roman emperor, and established the first German kingdom in an area that had been part of the Roman Empire.

Early Life

Odoacer (oh-doh-AY-suhr) was born in central Europe north of the Danube River. His father was Edeco (sometimes spelled Edica or Edecon), a Hun who served under the infamous Attila. The Huns broke up following the death of Attila in 453, and Edeco, who had married into a German tribe, the Scirae, returned to their land north of the Danube and became a Scirian prince. Evidence of Odoacer’s mixed parentage includes the fact that “Edeco” seems to be a name of Hunnic origin, while “Odoacer” is Germanic. Odoacer is sometimes referred to as a Heruclian or a Rugian, other Germanic tribes who contributed men to Odoacer’s war band. The best summary of Odoacer’s ethnic composition is that he was a Danubian-Hunnic-German.

In 469, Edeco was most likely killed when the Ostrogoths (East Goths) defeated the Scirae in Pannonia, a Roman province south of the Danube. One of his two sons, Hunulf (Onulf), survived the battle and entered the service of the Eastern Roman emperor in Constantinople. Odoacer, the other son, had not been a part of the campaign. As early as 460, he was the leader of a mixed war band composed of Huns, Germans, Goths, and Romans. The war band first operated as itinerant thieves in Pannonia and Noricum to the west. In 461, Odoacer, then about twenty-six years old, was on his way to Italy in search of fame and fortune. He stopped in Noricum to visit the imprisoned Saint Severinus. He was described as having been very tall and fur-clad during the visit. Severinus told Odoacer to go to Italy, where he would become a great man.

Arriving in Italy, Odoacer and most of his war band joined the imperial guard in Rome. In 472, they were part of an invasion of Rome led by Ricimer, the grandson of a Visigoth king, who had been trying to rule Italy from Milan as a rival of the emperor in Rome. Ricimer captured Rome and executed the emperor, who had been sent from the Eastern capital at Constantinople; Ricimer died five weeks later, leaving a power struggle in Rome. In 474, Zeno, the new Eastern emperor, appointed Julius Nepos to rule in the west. However, Nepos was deposed in 475 and fled across the Adriatic Sea to Dalmatia. The power struggle resumed, and the result was the end of the Western Empire in 476.

Life’s Work

Odoacer stood ready to participate in the power struggle. Also ready was Orestes, a Roman and a friend of Edeco who had been a Hunnic subject under Attila and who had joined Ricimer in the siege of Rome in 472. Orestes rose rapidly to the position of master of soldiers, or commander in chief, of the Roman army, and it was he who deposed Nepos in 475 and installed his young son, Romulus Augustulus , as the Western emperor in Ravenna. The actual government of the Western Empire had been moved to Ravenna in 402 by Emperor Honorius to provide better protection against barbarian invasions. Orestes made himself regent for his son, but his fortunes were soon to collapse.

Odoacer and his war band had been quietly supporting the interests of Orestes, who had promised them a third of Italy for their support. When they reminded Orestes of the promise, however, they were ignored. Odoacer stepped forward and promised his war band that if they would help him depose both Romulus Augustulus and Orestes, he would give them their promised territory. The men agreed, and the result was war between Odoacer and his late father’s friend in the climactic year of 476.

Odoacer won several quick victories, forcing Orestes to seek refuge in the city of Ticinum-Pavia. Odoacer attacked and captured the city, and Orestes was put to death. In Ravenna, Paulus, the brother of Orestes, was captured and killed, and the young emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed; he was sent with a pension to live in the palace of Lucullus near Naples. Subsequently, the historical record falls silent on the fate of the last Western Roman emperor.

Odoacer’s men proclaimed him king. Whether he was the principal king of Italy or merely one king among several is unclear. Historians debate whether his reign ended or continued the Western Roman Empire. Odoacer gave his men their land in the vicinity of their garrisons. Although humiliating to the once proud Romans, this action was less devastating because Italy had been depopulated and many estates vacated as a result of the wars and invasions of the fifth century.

Odoacer persuaded the senate to send a delegation on behalf of Romulus Augustulus to the Eastern Roman capital at Constantinople. The delegates were instructed to then ask Zeno, the Eastern emperor, to appoint Odoacer as a viceroy with the title of patrician. After some hesitation, Zeno granted the request.

Historians since Edward Gibbon (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-1788) have debated the uneasy relationship between Zeno and Odoacer. In spite of his show of humility, Odoacer seemed to believe that he ruled Italy by right of conquest and not by delegation of authority from Zeno, from whom he now wanted recognition as an “allied power” of the Eastern Empire. Zeno refused but still hoped to use Odoacer to advance his own interests. The first break between the two men occurred after Odoacer’s failure to obey Zeno’s order to restore Julius Nepos to the Western throne.

Odoacer’s growing independence can be best seen in his foreign policy, which was based primarily on agreements with other German kingdoms in the former Western Empire. He first signed an agreement with Gaiseric, the Vandal king in north Africa, that gave control of Sicily to Odoacer in return for an annual tribute paid to Gaiseric. In 477, he made peace with the Visigoth (West Goth) king, Euric, who was establishing control in Spain. By this agreement, Odoacer gave up claim to a coastal strip of southern Gaul (France) from the Rhone River to the Alps.

In 480, Odoacer crossed the Adriatic Sea to occupy Dalmatia, supposedly to avenge the recent murder of Julius Nepos, the deposed Western emperor. His attempt to move north into Pannonia-Savia, then under Ostrogoth control, was not completely successful.

By 486, the uneasy relationship between Odoacer and Zeno was unraveling. Zeno encouraged Feletheus, king of the Rugians in Noricum, to attack Odoacer. However, in a preemptive strike, Odoacer crushed the Rugians and sent the spoils to Zeno. Feletheus and his Ostrogoth wife were put to death. In 488, an attempt by Frideric, the son of Feletheus, to regain Noricum was crushed by Hunuf, the brother of Odoacer, who had left the service of the Eastern Empire and joined Odoacer. In 489, Zeno classified Odoacer as a usurper and sent Theodoric, the Ostrogoth king, to Italy to dethrone him. In response, Odoacer appointed his son, Thela (Ocla), to the throne of the Western Empire. Yet Odoacer did not proclaim himself an independent ruler, as both Gaiseric and Euric had done.

Intending to make Italy his permanent home, Theodoric marched in with about 100,000 Ostrogoths, including 20,000 warriors. After quick conquests of Verona and Milan, he tried an unsuccessful surprise attack on Ravenna, after which he took refuge in Ticinum-Pavia. Odoacer took the offensive and recaptured Milan, but his fortunes were soon reversed. Alaric II, a Visigoth from Toulouse (France), in a rare display of Gothic unity, brought an army to relieve Theodoric. Odoacer was forced to retreat to the Adda River, where he suffered a decisive defeat in August, 490, and was forced to return to Ravenna.

For the next two years, Theodoric sought to establish an effective siege of the well-defended Ravenna. In July, 491, Odoacer fought his last major battle, a failed attempt to break the siege. By August, 492, Ravenna was cut off by land and by sea. In February, 493, Bishop John of Ravenna negotiated an agreement that allowed Theodoric to enter Ravenna and for Theodoric and Odoacer to rule Italy jointly. On March 5, 493, Theodoric entered Ravenna.

About ten days later, a banquet was held to commemorate the agreement. At the end of the meal, two of Theodoric’s men grabbed Odoacer’s hands while Theodoric thrust his sword through the body of his longtime enemy. Odoacer’s wife was starved to death, his brother was killed in a church, and his followers were killed on the spot wherever they were found. His son was exiled to France but was killed later trying to reconquer Italy. The motive for this cold-blooded murder and massacre, in addition to rivalry for control of Italy, might have been Odoacer’s killing of the Rugian leader, Feletheus, and his Ostrogoth wife, who apparently was related to Theodoric.

Significance

Although he came from a barbarian background and although he was apparently illiterate, Odoacer ruled Italy for more than sixteen years with amazing wisdom and stability. He did not visualize himself as ending the Western Roman Empire. Even when his relationship with the Eastern emperor deteriorated, he never considered his territory anything other than a part of the Roman Empire. Odoacer never claimed the title of emperor, instead adopting the idea of imitatio imperii (image of the emperor). He never assumed the right of legislation, and he never had a coin struck in his honor, as was the custom of Roman emperors. He preserved and enhanced the Roman imperial system whereby the emperors had governed large areas through special agents. Odoacer also made use of, and increased the power of, the Roman senate.

Odoacer and his contemporaries were never entirely able to surmount their barbarian backgrounds, but they had great respect for Roman civilization. This is evidenced by the different standards of treatment they meted out to the Romans under their control as compared with their treatment of fellow barbarians. Odoacer was also deeply impressed by Christianity, although the Arian Christianity to which he was exposed was not the orthodox version that soon became the Roman Catholic Church. Odoacer’s personal conduct seems to have been little affected by either Roman civilization or Christianity, but had he been able to rule more peacefully and for a longer period, his contributions to Western civilization might have been much greater.

Barbarian Kings of Italy, 476-553

Reign

• Ruler

476-493

• Odoacer

493-526

• Theodoric

526-534

• Athalaric

534-536

• Theodatus (Theodahad)

536-540

• Vitiges (Witiges)

540-541

• Theodobald (Heldebadus)

541

• Eraric

541-552

• Totila

552-553

• Teias

Bibliography

Eyck, Frank. Religion and Politics in German History: From the Beginnings to the French Revolution. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. An analysis of how Germanic peoples preserved links with classical civilization through their ability to assimilate other cultures and peoples, from their alliances with eighth century popes through the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The initial bond between the Germanic rulers and popes turned to conflict as the Papacy gained power. Tables, maps, bibliography, index.

Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Abridged by D. M. Low. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1960. The classic history of Roman decline. Includes five chapters on the barbarian invasions of Italy in the fifth century that culminated in Odoacer’s removal of the last Western emperor in 476. Two additional chapters cover general conditions of the period and the rule of Theodoric.

Goffart, Walter. Barbarians and Romans. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980. Covers the years 418 to 584. Deals primarily with the process of accommodation between the Romans and their barbarian invaders. Chapter 2 covers the land allotments in Italy given to Odoacer’s war band and later to Theodoric. Also discusses the blending of cultures. Five appendices provide background for the period.

La Rocca, Cristina, ed. Italy in the Early Middle Ages, 476-1000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Ten chapters by historians and archaeologists integrate new archaeological findings to examine Italy’s regional diversities, rural and urban landscapes, organization of public and private power, ecclesiastical institutions, manuscript production, and more. Starts with the fall of Rome and Odoacer. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, index.

Randers-Pehrson, Justine Davis. Barbarians and Romans: The Birth Struggle of Europe, A.D. 400-700. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. Has several chapters covering the fifth century barbarian invasions of the Western Empire. Includes coverage of the struggle between Odoacer and Theodoric. Also has photographs, both color and black and white, of numerous artifacts and historic sites related to Romans and barbarians of the period.

Thompson, E. A. Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. Includes a chapter devoted to the events surrounding the year 476 and contains maps that help trace the territorial changes taking place in the Western Empire. Also discusses later invasions of Italy by the Eastern Empire and by the Lombards.

Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society, 400-1000. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989. A social and archaeological history of early medieval Italy covering the time of Odoacer, which has been adopted by many college courses in Medieval History/Middle Ages. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, Index.

Wolfrum, Herwig. History of the Goths. Translated by Thomas Dunlap. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Good background for the German and Gothic invasions of Italy. Gives a detailed account of Odoacer’s conflict with Theodoric, including a discussion of Theodoric’s motives for his murder of Odoacer.