Odoacer (c. 433 – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who, as an officer of the Roman army, deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus to become the ruler of Italy in the period 476–493 AD. His takeover is traditionally understood as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.
Although he ruled Italy, Odoacer styled himself a client of the Eastern emperor Zeno in Constantinople. He was addressed not only as rex but also as dux and patrician, the latter title granted by Zeno. In the sole surviving document from his chancery—and by the consul Basilius—Odoacer used the title of king. Backed by the Roman Senate, he distributed land with little resistance. Soldier unrest in 477–478 caused violence, but his later reign was stable. Though an Arian, he seldom interfered in the Trinitarian state church.
Before taking control of Italy, Odoacer led the revolt of Herulian, Rugian, and Scirian troops that deposed Romulus Augustulus on 4 September 476. The boy-emperor, elevated by his father Orestes less than a year earlier, never gained authority beyond central Italy. With senatorial support, Odoacer then ruled autonomously while formally recognizing both Julius Nepos and Zeno. After Nepos's murder in 480, Odoacer invaded Dalmatia, executed the conspirators, and annexed the region within two years.
In 484, when Illus, Eastern magister militum, sought his aid against Zeno, Odoacer invaded the emperor's western provinces. Zeno retaliated by spurring the Rugii to attack Italy, but Odoacer crushed them north of the Danube in 487–488. To end the conflict, Zeno unleashed the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great, who invaded in 489, seized most of Italy by 490, and forced Odoacer into Ravenna. After the city surrendered on 5 March 493, Theodoric invited him to a reconciliation banquet, where he murdered Odoacer and claimed the throne.
The origin of the name Odoacer, which may give indications as to his tribal affiliation, is debated. It is however traditionally derived from the Germanic components *auda (luck, possession, wealth) and *wakra (awake, vigilant, lively). It is not clear from which branch of the East Germanic language it is derived. In favour of this etymology, this form has a cognate in another Germanic language, the titular Eadwacer of the Old English poem Wulf and Eadwacer (where Old English renders the earlier Germanic sound au- as ea-).
However, historians Robert L. Reynolds and Robert S. Lopez explored the possibility that the name Odoacer was not Germanic, making several arguments that his ethnic background might lie elsewhere. They argue that no convincing Germanic etymology has been found for the name Odoacer; instead, they propose that it could be a form of the Turkic "Ot-toghar" ("grass-born" or "fire-born"), or the shorter form "Ot-ghar" ("herder"). There is also debate regarding the etymology of Edeco, the apparent name of Odoacer's father. Omeljan Pritsak considered it Turkic; others such as Peter Heather continue to consider it Germanic.
The name of Odoacer's brother, Hunulf or Onulf, is generally accepted to be Germanic "Hun wolf". Reynolds and Lopez emphasized that the first part, "hun", although the meaning is uncertain, may refer to the Huns. Odoacer's son is given two different names in ancient sources, Thelan and Oklan. Reynolds and Lopez compare these to Turkic names: "Thelan resembles the name borne by the khagan of the eastern Turks, Tulan, who reigned from 587 to 600 A.D. Oklan resembles closely the Turkish-Tatar word oghlan, 'youth'".
The assumption that the etymology of Odoacer's name can be used to determine his ancestry or language has been criticized by historians and philologists such as Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen and Walter Pohl, who have pointed out that Germanic-speakers used Hunnic names in this period and region, and vice versa. As emphasized by Pohl, the same person could be considered Hunnic or Germanic under different circumstances, especially during the upheavals after Attila's death, and "the ruling class of Attila's empire continued to influence tribal politics even after its collapse".
In a fragment from a history of Priscus, reproduced in the 7th century by John of Antioch, Odoacer is described as a man of the Sciri, the son of Edeco ("Idiko"), and brother of Hunulf who killed Armatus in the eastern Roman empire. The Anonymus Valesianus agrees that his father's name was Edeko ("Aediko"), and refers to him leading Sciri and Heruli.
Another record of an Edica—apparently the same person—is found in Jordanes, who identified him as a leader of the Sciri along with a person named Hunuulf (presumably his son), after the fall of Attila. They were defeated by the Ostrogoths at the Battle of Bolia in Pannonia about 469.
An earlier Edeco ("Edekon") was described by Priscus as a trusted man of Attila, and ambassador to Constantinople. He escorted Priscus and other Imperial dignitaries back to Attila's camp. It is not universally accepted that this Edeco is the father of Odoacer. Priscus once calls him a Scythian, and another time a Hun. It has been argued that classifications like "Scythian" or "Hun" from this period could refer to social type and lifestyle rather than an exact ethnic origin. Macbain, however, argues that Priscus was careful with such terms, and sees this as evidence that Edeco cannot be the Scirian father of Odoacer.
Except for the fact that he was not considered Roman, Odoacer's precise ethnic origins are not known. His origins probably lie in the multi-ethnic empire of Attila a generation earlier, which included several groups referred to in this period as "Gothic peoples"—the same polyethnic complex which dominated the military forces that he is most famous for leading throughout his later life. On that basis, he is likely at least partly of Germanic descent. Early medieval sources such as Theophanes called him a Goth. Likewise, the 6th century chronicler Marcellinus Comes called him a "king of the Goths" (Odoacer rex Gothorum).
One of the most important sources for this topic has been the 6th-century writer Jordanes, who associated him with several of the Gothic peoples who came to the Middle Danube during the time of Attila's empire, including the Sciri, Heruli, and Rugii. In several passages, Jordanes also associated Odoacer with the otherwise unknown Turcilingi—who may have been a people or perhaps a dynasty. The Turcilingi are not mentioned in any other historical sources apart from those derived from Jordanes and their ethnic affiliations are unclear, but they may have been Gothic, Hunnic, or even precursors of the Thuringi. While in one passage of Getica, Jordanes describes Odoacer as king of the Turcilingi (Torcilingorum rex) with Scirian and Heruli followers, in another passage Jordanes calls him the king of "Torcilingi and Rugi". In his Romana, the same author defines Odoacer as being "of Rugian descent, strengthened by crowds of Thorcilingi, of Sciri and of Heruli". It has also been pointed out by Reynolds and Lopez that Attila had an uncle named Rogus and that Jordanes may have been saying Odoacer was his descendant. The near contemporary Auctorium Havniense also calls Odoacer a king of Heruli. Many historians, such as medieval scholar Michael Frassetto, accept that Odoacer was of Scirian heritage, because of the apparent family links to Edeko and Hunulf.
The Scirii, Rugii and Heruli were among those known to contemporaries such as the historian Procopius as "Gothic peoples". The Scirii and Heruli both appear to have come to the Danubian area from the direction of what is now Ukraine, as did the Goths, Huns, and Alans, while the Rugii originated on the south Baltic coast. After the death of Attila in 453, these peoples fought at the Battle of Nedao in 454, when the Ostrogoths failed to gain dominance. They fought again at the Battle of Bolia in 468, when the Ostrogoths scored a devastating victory. After this, the Scirii, Rugii and Heruli made up a large part of the military force Odoacer came to control in Italy, while the Ostrogoths moved into Eastern Roman territory in the Balkans.