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Odoacer

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Odoacer

, Odovacar
?434--493 ad, barbarian ruler of Italy (476--493); assassinated by Theodoric
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Odoacer

 

(or Odovacar). Born circa 431; died Mar. 15, 493, in Ravenna. Ruler (“king”) of Italy from 476 to 493.

Odoacer was a member of the German Sciri tribe and the leader of one of the detachments of German mercenaries in the imperial army of the Western Roman Empire. On Aug. 23, 476, he deposed the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augus-tulus, and proclaimed himself king of Italy. This event traditionally marks the end of the Western Roman Empire. By 493 the “kingdom of Odoacer” had been conquered by the Ostrogoths, who invaded northern Italy in 488. Odoacer was killed by Theodoric, leader of the Ostrogoths.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
Shortly after he's crowned emperor of the crumbling Roman Empire in 476 A.D., young Romulus is in short order orphaned, deposed and exiled by the hordes of Odoacer (Peter Mullan), a Goth usurper.
The empire in the West ended 476, when Romulus Augustulus was banished by the barbarian Odoacer. Zeno continued to rule in the East until 491.
475: Romulus Augustulus is proclaimed Western Roman Emperor: his deposition less than a year later by Germanic Arian Christian warrior Odoacer is seen as marking the end of the Western Empire.
The empire in the West lived on in name, until the barbarian Odoacer, the real power in Italy, wrote to the Eastern Emperor and proposed that there was no longer a need for a Western Emperor.
A History of Rome traite de la periode depuis les origines de Rome jusqu'a la mort du roi Odoacer. Cette oeuvre se divise en trois parties, qui correspondent a trois grandes epoques de l'histoire romaine: I, des origines de Rome a la bataille d'Actium en 31 avant J.-C.
A remarkable figure, Theodoric was often cruel and violent, as shown in the executions of Odoacer, Boethius, and Symmachus; he was an energetic ruler, known for his religious toleration as well as his skillful administration and concern for his subjects; the greatest of the Romanized barbarian kings.
Odoacer, a barbarian soldier serving in the army, then convinced his fellow soldiers that, should they agree to follow him, he would arrange to have land redistributed amongst them in lieu of their expected salaries.
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