<P> Under Odoacer, Western consuls continued to be appointed as they had been under Western Roman Empire and were accepted by the Eastern Court, the first of these were Caecina Decius Maximus Basilus in 480 . Basilus was later also made the Praetorian Prefect of Italy in 483, a position that continued to exist under Odoacer. 11 further consuls were appointed by the Senate under Odoacer during his reign from 480 to 493 and one further Praetorian Prefect of Italy was appointed, Caecina Mavortius Basilius Decius (486 - 493). </P> <P> Though Odoacer ruled as a Roman governor would have and maintained himself as a subordinate to the remaining Empire, the Eastern Emperor Zeno began to increasingly see him as a rival . Thus, Zeno promised Theoderic the Great of the Ostrogoths, foederati of the Eastern Court, control over the Italian peninsula if they were able to defeat Odoacer . Theoderic led the Ostrogoths across the Julian Alps and into Italy in 489 and defeated Odoacer in battle twice the same year . Following four years of hostilities between them, John, the Bishop of Ravenna, was able to negotiate a treaty in 493 between Odoacer and Theodoric wherein they agreed to rule Ravenna and Italy jointly . Theoderic entered Ravenna on 5 March and Odoacer was dead ten days later, killed by Theodoric after sharing a meal with him . </P> <P> Theoderic inherited the role of Odoacer, the acting viceroy for Italy and ostensibly a patricius and subject of the emperor in Constantinople . This position was recognized by Emperor Anastasius in 497, four years after Theoderic had defeated Odoacer . Though Theodoric acted as an independent ruler, he meticulously preserved the outward appearance of his subordinate position . Theoderic continued to use the administrative systems of Odoacer's kingdom, essentially those of the Western Roman Empire, and administrative positions continued to be staffed exclusively by Romans . The senate continued to function as it always had and the laws of the Empire were recognized as ruling the Roman population, though the Goths were ruled by their own traditional laws . As a subordinate, Theodoric did not have the right to issue his own laws, only edicts or clarifications . The army and military offices were exclusively staffed by the Goths, however, largely settled in northern Italy . </P> <P> Though acting as a subordinate in domestic affairs, Theodoric acted increasingly independent in his foreign policies . Seeking to counterbalance the influence of the Empire in the East, Theodoric married his daughters to the Visigothic king Alaric II and the Burgundian prince Sigismund, his sister Amalfrida was married to the Vandal king Thrasamund and he married Audofleda, sister of the Frankish king Clovis I, himself . Through these alliances and occasional conflicts, the territory controlled by Theoderic in the early sixth century nearly constituted a restored Western Roman Empire . Ruler of Italy since 493, Theodoric became king of the Visigoths in 511 and exerted hegemony over the Vandals in North Africa between 521 and 523 . As such, his rule extended throughout the western Mediterranean . The Western imperial regalia, housed in Constantinople since the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476, were returned to Ravenna by Emperor Anastasius in 497 . Theoderic, by now Western Emperor in all but name, could however not assume an imperial title not only because the notion of a separate Western court had been abolished but also due to his "barbarian" heritage, which like that of Ricimer before him would have barred him from assuming the throne . </P>

The center of power for the western part of the roman empire was