Editing Odoacer (section)

== Leader of the ''foederati'' ==
By 470, Odoacer had become an officer in what remained of the Roman Army. Although Jordanes writes of Odoacer as invading Italy "as leader of the Sciri, the [[Heruli]] and allies of various races",{{sfn|Jordanes|1915|p=119 [XLVI.242]}} modern writers describe him as being part of the Roman military establishment, based on [[John of Antioch (chronicler)|John of Antioch]]'s statement that Odoacer was on the side of [[Ricimer]] at the beginning of his battle with the emperor [[Anthemius]] in 472. Odoacer is said to have "hastened the emperor's downfall", since he switched sides to join with Ricimer.{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|p=184}}{{sfn|Frassetto|2003|p=275}}{{efn|Also See: John of Antioch, fragment 209; translated by C. D. Gordon, ''Age of Attila'', p. 122.}} [[Procopius]] describes him as one of the Emperor's bodyguards, only agreeing to this position if placed in charge of them.{{sfn|Prokopios|2014|p=251 [5.1.6]}}

When [[Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus)|Orestes]] was in 475 appointed ''[[Magister militum]]'' and [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] by the Western Roman Emperor [[Julius Nepos]], Odoacer became head of the barbarian ''[[foederati]]'' military forces of Italy. Under the command of Orestes were significant contingents of Germanic peoples made up mostly of [[Rugii]] and [[Heruli]] tribesmen.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|p=367}} Before the end of that year Orestes had rebelled and driven Nepos from Italy.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2009|p=367}} Orestes then proclaimed his young son Romulus the new emperor as [[Romulus Augustulus|Romulus Augustus, called "Augustulus"]] (31 October).{{sfn|Bury|1923|p=405}} At this time, Odoacer was a soldier rising through the ranks.{{sfn|Thompson|1982|pp=63–64}} However, Nepos reorganized his court in [[Salona]] in Dalmatia, and received homage and affirmation from the remaining fragments of the Western Empire beyond Italy and, most importantly, from Constantinople, which refused to accept Augustulus, Zeno having branded him and his father as traitors and usurpers.{{sfn|Bury|1958|p=190}}

About this time, the ''foederati'', who had been quartered in Italy all of these years, had grown weary of this arrangement. In the words of [[J. B. Bury]], "They desired to have roof-trees and lands of their own, and they petitioned Orestes to reward them for their services, by granting them lands and settling them permanently in Italy".{{sfn|Bury|1923|p=406}} Orestes refused their petition, and they turned to Odoacer to lead their revolt against Orestes. Orestes was killed at [[Placentia, Italy|Placentia]] along with his brother Paulus outside [[Ravenna]]. The Germanic ''foederati,'' the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, then proclaimed Odoacer ''rex'' ("king") on 23 August 476.{{sfn|Martindale|1980}}{{sfn|Bury|1923|p=406}} Odoacer then advanced to Ravenna and captured the city, compelling the young emperor Romulus to abdicate on 4 September. According to the ''Anonymus Valesianus'', Odoacer was moved by Romulus's youth and his beauty to not only spare his life but give him a pension of 6,000 ''[[solidus (coin)|solidi]]'' and sent him to [[Campania]] to live with his relatives.{{sfn|Bernard|1970|p=19}}{{efn|Also see: ''Anonymus Valesianus'', 8.38. Text and English translation of this document is in J.C. Rolfe (trans.), ''Ammianus Marcellinus'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972), vol. 3 pp. 531ff}}

[[File:Solidus-Odoacer-ZenoRIC 3657cf.jpg|thumb|Odoacer [[solidus (coin)|solidus]] struck in the name of Emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]], testifying to the formal submission of Odoacer to Zeno]]

Following Romulus Augustus's deposition, according to the historian Malchus, upon hearing of the accession of [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] to the throne, the Senate in Rome sent an embassy to the Eastern Emperor and bestowed upon him the Western imperial insignia. The message was clear: the West no longer required a separate Emperor, for "one monarch sufficed [to rule] the world". In response, Zeno accepted their gifts and this essentially brought to an end any puppet emperors in the West, with Nepos banished and Anthemius dead.{{sfn|Bury|1923|p=407}} The Eastern Emperor then conferred upon Odoacer the title of [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|Patrician]] and granted him legal authority to govern Italy in the name of Rome, as ''dux Italiae''.{{sfn|Heather|2005|pp=428–429}} Zeno also suggested that Odoacer should receive Nepos back as Emperor in the West,{{sfn|Heather|2005|p=429}} "if he truly wished to act with justice."{{efn|See:Malchus, fragment 10, translated in C. D. Gordon, ''The Age of Attila'', pp. 127–129.}} Although he accepted the title of Patrician and ''Dux'' from Zeno, Odoacer did not invite Julius Nepos to return to Rome, and the latter remained in Dalmatia until his death. Odoacer was careful to observe form, however, and made a pretence of acting on Nepos's authority, even issuing coins with both his image and that of Zeno.{{sfn|Elton|2018|p=219}} Following Nepos's murder in 480, who was killed while waiting in Dalmatia,{{sfn|Bunson|1995|p=292}} Zeno became sole Emperor.{{sfn|Grant|1998|pp=46–47}}

Bury, however, disagrees that Odoacer's assumption of power marked the fall of the Western Roman Empire:
{{blockquote|It stands out prominently as an important stage in the process of the dismemberment of the Empire. It belongs to the same catalogue of chronological dates which includes A.D. 418, when Honorius settled the Goths in [[Gallia Aquitania|Aquitaine]], and A.D. 435, when [[Valentinian III|Valentinian]] ceded African lands to the [[Vandals]]. In A.D. 476 the same principle of disintegration was first applied to Italy. The settlement of Odovacar's East Germans, with Zeno's acquiescence, began the process by which Italian soil was to pass into the hands of Ostrogoths and [[Lombards]], [[Franks]] and [[Normans]]. And Odovacar's title of king emphasised the significance of the change.{{sfn|Bury|1923|p=409}}}}