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The Fall of West Roman Dalmatia and the Rise of Odoacer (480 CE)
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In the year 480 CE, the Western Roman Empire was in its final throes, having already lost much of its territory to barbarian invasions and internal decay. One of the last vestiges of Roman authority in the West was Dalmatia, a region along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. By this time, the Western Roman Empire had effectively ceased to exist as a political entity, but Dalmatia remained under the nominal control of Julius Nepos, a former emperor who had been deposed in 475 CE by the Germanic general Orestes.
Julius Nepos had fled to Dalmatia after his deposition, where he continued to claim the title of Western Roman Emperor, even though his authority was largely unrecognized outside of the region. However, in 480 CE, Nepos was assassinated, likely at the instigation of Odoacer, a Germanic chieftain who had risen to power in Italy. With Nepos's death, the last remnants of Western Roman authority in Dalmatia effectively came to an end.
Odoacer, who had already deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, in 476 CE, now extended his control over Dalmatia. Odoacer's rise marked a significant turning point in European history, as he became the first barbarian king to rule over Italy, effectively ending the Western Roman Empire and ushering in the early medieval period.
Odoacer's rule over Dalmatia and Italy was initially recognized by the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno, who granted him the title of patrician and allowed him to govern as a viceroy of the Eastern Empire. However, this arrangement was short-lived, as tensions between Odoacer and Zeno eventually led to conflict, culminating in Odoacer's defeat and death at the hands of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in 493 CE.
The events of 480 CE in Dalmatia thus represent the final chapter in the long decline of the Western Roman Empire. The assassination of Julius Nepos and the subsequent incorporation of Dalmatia into Odoacer's kingdom marked the end of Roman political authority in the West, paving the way for the rise of new barbarian kingdoms and the transformation of Europe into the medieval world.