Death of Odoacer

Date: March 15, 493 • Location: Rome, Italy

Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, is slain by Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, while the two kings were feasting together.

Odoacer, also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a soldier and statesman of non-Roman heritage 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.