Theodoric the Great kills Odoacer and founds the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy
A Byzantine-backed invasion ends with a murder at a peace banquet
Quick facts
- Location
- Ravenna, Italy
- Reign
- 493-526 CE
- Sent by
- Byzantine emperor Zeno
- Rival killed
- Odoacer, king of Italy 476-493
What happened
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, was sent into Italy by the Byzantine emperor Zeno in 488 to unseat Odoacer, whose growing independence had become a problem for Constantinople. After defeating Odoacer's forces at the Isonzo Bridge and Verona in 489 and enduring his own setback when Odoacer's commander Tufa betrayed him, Theodoric besieged Odoacer in Ravenna until the bishop of Ravenna brokered a treaty on 25 February 493 for the two kings to rule Italy jointly. Theodoric entered Ravenna on 5 March. At the banquet held ten days later to celebrate the peace, Theodoric drew his sword and killed Odoacer himself, reportedly telling him, 'This is what you have done to my people.' Odoacer's family and followers were killed in the days that followed.
Why it matters
Theodoric ruled Italy from Ravenna for over 30 years, keeping Roman law and administration running under Gothic military rule, restoring buildings, and governing Goths and Romans under separate legal systems. His kingdom showed that a post-Roman successor state could function at scale, a model Frankish, Visigothic, and Lombard rulers would each adapt in turn.
How we know
The historian Herwig Wolfram's account, drawing on contemporary and near-contemporary sources including the Anonymus Valesianus, describes the treaty, the banquet, and the killing in detail; the scholar Guy Halsall's analysis of the 474-488 power struggle in Constantinople explains why Zeno sent Theodoric west in the first place.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Theodoric the Great · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia (quoting Herwig Wolfram). Theodoric the Great · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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