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( Odoacer)
Odoacer (435 – 493), also known as Odovacar (from the Germanic Audawakrs, meaning "watchful of wealth"), was a Roman general and the first barbarian King of Italy, who deposed the Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476.[1] Odoacer was probably the son of the Scirian chieftain Edeko, who was a Germanic vassal chieftain at the court of Attila. All the Germanic vassals of the Huns broke free the Battle of Nedao in 454, where the Germanic vassals (Gepids, Ostrogoths, Scirians, Herules and Rugians) unleashed a great defeat against the Huns and Alans. After this battle, the Scirians split up. Parts joined the Visigoths, other parts joined the Ostrogoths and the rest of the Scirians united with a part of the Herules and became foederati of the Western Roman Empire. The foederati were sent to Gaul. Odoacer was a slave in the foederati, but as the son of Edeko, he always remained a nobleman among the Scirians. The foederati were pulled out of Gaul and sent to Italy by Ricimer under the rule of Anthemius in 466. In 470, Odoacer was appointed leader of the foederati. In 475, Orestes was appointed Magister militum and patrician by the Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos; he was therefore made head of the Germanic foederati of Italy (the Scirian - Herulic foederati). Orestes promised them a third of the Italic peninsula if they led the revolt against Emperor Nepos. The foederati were 30,000 strong (plus families), and they had lived on the Italic peninsula for several years at this point; however, they had only received scraps of land in relatively unfertile areas around the Apennine mountains. The foederati accepted the offer and led the revolt as planned; on August 28, 475 they defeated Nepos, who fled to Dalmatia. With the emperor far away, Orestes elevated his son Romulus to the rank of Augustus, so that the last Western Roman Emperor is known as Romulus Augustus. After the revolt, Orestes, as magister militum, organised his own army. Behind the safety of his army, Orestes rescinded his pledge to the foederati; as a result, the foederati revolted and defeated Orestes. Odoacer was the leader of the revolt against Orestes, who was captured and executed. After the revolt, the Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Herules, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, proclaimed Odoacer rex Italiae ("king of Italy"). In 476, Odoacer advanced to Ravenna, capturing the city and the young emperor. Romulus was compelled to abdicate on September 4, 476. In the same year Odoacer renounced the meaningless title of Emperor, which was a wise move that avoided a conflict with Constantinople. He sent the imperial insignia to the Eastern Emperor Zeno and declared himself Patrician of the Western Half (which, by this time, was no more than the Italian peninsula). Odoacer was then confirmed as rex Italiae by Zeno later in 476. The rightful Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos remained powerless in exile in Dalmatia, where he would lived until his assassination in 480.
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