Odoacer (Odoacer, Odoacar)

ODOACER (Odoacer, Odoacar). - First barbarian king of Italy, b. in 434, d. at Ravenna on 15 March 493. Of Scirian origin, he came to Italy early, enlisting in the army among the palace guards. On 23 Aug. 476 he was acclaimed king by the barbarian soldiers who demanded a third of the lands of the peninsula; after occupying Pavia, he marched on Ravenna, there deposing the last emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus (4 Sept.).

To legitimize his power he sent ambassadors to the Eastern emperor Zeno, requesting the title of Roman patrician. A shrewd and prudent politician, he governed with wisdom and moderation. In 476 he obtained from the Vandals the eastern part of Sicily, binding himself to pay them an annual tribute, but in 486 he conquered the whole island. In 481-82 he occupied Dalmatia and in 487-88 fought victoriously against the Rugians, who had been set against him by the emperor Zeno. In 489 Theodoric, in agreement with the Byzantine court, set out to march on Italy with his Ostrogoths; O. was successively defeated near the Isonzo and at Verona, and the following year near the Adda. He then shut himself up in Ravenna, which was soon besieged by Theodoric; after two years O. surrendered with the promise that his life would be spared and that he would have a certain share in the government of Italy (5 March 493), but ten days later he was killed by Theodoric himself, and with him all his family and all those who had remained loyal to him.

Toward the Catholic Church, despite being an Arian, O. showed himself rather tolerant and accommodating, respecting the bishops; he intervened through his prefect of Rome in the election of Pope Felix III, so that no riots should occur, and he also had a decree promulgated by the clergy against the alienation of ecclesiastical property.

Agostino Amore