Ostrogoths

Ostrogoths (East Goths), branch of the Goths, a Germanic people who originally occupied the lands to the north of the Black Sea. The accession of their king Theodoric the Great (A.D. 471) heralded an alliance with Zeno, emperor of the East Roman Empire. On Zeno's orders, Theodoric invaded Italy in 488, overthrew Odoacer (493), and ruled from Ravenna. The Byzantine generals, Belisarius and Narses destroyed Ostrogothic rule in the 530s; the final Ostrogothic revolt under Totila was swiftly crushed by Narses in 552.