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Birth:          ABT  454 Pannonia
Death:          30 Aug  526 Ravenna, Italy

Notes
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I18462
Thanks to Wayne R Davy [wrdavy AT megavision.com], for providing the following 
interesting historical piece from 'Archeaology Odyssey':

Thought you might be interested in this which I've taken from the Odyssey magazine 
which I received last week, and might want to add it to your notes for Theodoric. If 
you have access to this magazine, I think its a very interesting piece.

According to 6th century Gothic historian Jordanes, Goths originated in Scandinavia. 
In 4th cent, B.C.E. they were living along the shores of the Black Sea, and by the end 
of the 2nd cent C.E. they had migrated to the Danube. About 375 C.E. the Huns 
destroyed the Gothic settlements along the Black Sea and many of the Goths fled to 
territories controlled by the Romans. In 378 C.E. Goths killed the Roman Emperor 
Valens in a battle near the city of Adrianople, Turkey. At about 400 C.E. Alaric united 
the Goths in a group called the Visigoths. They marched west and established 
kingdoms in Spain and Gaul. In 507 the Franks conquered the Goths in Gaul. 
Visigoths rule in Spain lasted until 711.

After the death of Attila, the leader of the Huns, in 453, the eastern Goths united and 
were called the Ostragoths. They settled in the area south of Vienna, Austria and 
coexisted with the Roman Byzantine empire. Theodoric was sent to Constantinople 
where he received a Roman education and became a favorite at court. He became 
king of the Ostragoths in 471 and decided to carve out a kingdom in Italy which was 
then ruled by the barbarian, Odoacer. He led about 100,000 (including 75,000 non-
combatants) into Italy and fought Odoacer's forces from 488 to 493. He convinced 
Odoacer to accept joint rule and then murdered him at the celebratory banquet. Thus 
he became sole ruler with his capitol at Ravenna. His 33 year reign was characterized 
by peace, prosperity and tolerance. He maintained most of the old Roman laws and 
appointed Romans to civil offices. He recognized the authority of the Emperor in 
Constantinople. He left an architectural legacy, constructing public buildings and 
repairing roads. Several of his structures remain standing in Ravenna today, including 
the church of Sant' Apollinare Nuova, an Arian baptistry, and his mausoleum.

Built to withstand eternity, his mausoleum resembles no other building in the Roman-
Byzantine world. The tomb's domed roof is 36 feet in diameter, weighs about 300 tons 
and is carved from a single block of marble that was carved on the Istria peninsula in 
modern Croatia. They do not know how the roof was cut, transported and hoisted into 
place. The purpose was apparently to discourage vandalism. The roof locks the Lower 
blocks into place so that would-be vandals would bring the structure down on their 
head if they tampered with it. To increase the stony security, Theodoric included 
another protective feature which was a system of interlocking masonry joints. The 
tomb's walls seem to consist of regular ashlars of squared masonry blocks but in fact 
many of them are not of standard size and therefore are not interchangeable. The 
ashlars have joints or protrusions that neatly interlock with the adjacent stones. These 
irregular, interlocking joints make it extremely difficult, if not impossible to dismantle 
the structure. This fitted stonework makes the building like a Chinese puzzle. One 
particular piece must be removed before the subsequent pieces are chosen and 
unless the correct piece is chosen, the whole structure remains intact , a solid 
interlocked mass.
(Excerpts from "The Mystery of Theodoric's Tomb Solved" by Harry Rand,
Archaeology Odyssey, Nov-Dec 2003, p 47-53, 57-58)

Parents
OF THE OSTROGOTHS Theodemir (ABT  425 -  471)
____ Erelieva (Erchiva) (Erelicia) (ABT  430 - )

Siblings
OF THE OSTROGOTHS Theodoric (ABT  454 - 30 Aug  526)
OF THE OSTROGOTHS Amfleda (ABT  456 - )

Marriage To ----- ----- (concubine) ()
    m.  

Notes


Children by ----- ----- (concubine) 
OF ROME Theodogotho (ABT  475 - )

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