Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Romulus Augustulus, last of the emperors of the West is deposed. . . . For historians, the deposing of Romulus marks the end of the Roman Empire and the start of the Dark Ages." [1001 Days] "Between 478 and 488, the Ostrogoths under Theoderic advanced steadily towards Constantinople . . . Zeno decided to solve the two problems simultaneously: he offered to recognize Theoderic the Ostrogoth as king of Italy and give him the peninsula, as long as Theoderic would go west and get rid of Odovacer. . . . The fight over Italy went on for three years. . . . Finally, in 491, Odovacer suggested a compromise. He would sign a treaty making the two of them co-rulers of Italy if Theoderic would lift the siege. . . . He agreed to the compromise, but in 493 he ended their joint rule by killing his colleague. . . . He was now Theoderic the Great, king of Italy, and as king he had no duty to pay the eastern Roman emperor. . . . Roman culture made inroads into Gothic practice; the Goths increasingly spoke Latin, adopted Roman names, married Roman women, and cultivated Roman estates. . . . But Ravenna, dominated by Goths, was the power center of the kingdom."