Odoacer

Odoacer solidus struck in name of Zeno. This coin testifies formal submission of Odoacer to Zeno.

Odoacer (435–493), also known as Odovacar (Germanic Audawakrs, meaning watchful of wealth) was the half Hunnish, half Scirian chieftain of the Germanic Heruli. He is best known to history as the man who deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, in 476. Romulus Augustus was sent to retirement or exiled at Lucullanum at the Bay of Naples in Campania. He disappears from the historical record afterwards.

After deposing Romulus, Odoacer had a choice of either appointing a new figurehead emperor and ruling through him, or ruling as an agent of the Byzantine emperor. Unlike many of his predecessors, such as Ricimer, he chose the latter route, returning the western imperial regalia to the emperor Zeno in Constantinople, along with a letter asking to be confirmed as dux of Italy. Zeno granted this request and bestowed upon Odoacer the rank of patrician.

Until his death in 480, the legitimate western emperor Julius Nepos technically remained Odoacer's superior and the latter even issued coins in his name. However, Odoacer also styled himself rex Italiae (King of Italy) and was recognized as such for the rest of his life.

Nevertheless, relations between Odoacer and the East Romans later deteriorated, and in 489, with the emperor Zeno's encouragement, the Ostrogoths under Theodoric the Great invaded Odoacer's kingdom, destroyed his army of barbarian foederati (and a few surviving Roman forces) and forced his surrender in 493. Theodoric invited him to a banquet, supposedly slew him with his own sword, and took over his entire kingdom.

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