During his rule, Ravenna saw many of its finest monuments constructed or renovated, including the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Palace of Theoderic, and Mausoleum of Theodoric.
In 476 the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate under invasions by Goths led by Odovacar.
Odovacar drew the ire of the imperial court at Constantinople as "a barbarian, a non-Roman, had deposed the Roman emperor in the original heartland of the empire.
He was recognized politically by Constantinople, who bestowed upon him first the title of patricius and named as magister militum Praesentalis in 476 and was appointed consul of the Eastern Empire in 484.
Therefore, when the patrician Theodoric came from the city of Nova with the Gothic people, he was sent by the emperor Zeno from the regions of the Orient, in order to defend Italy for him.
[5] -Anonymus Valesianus 2.49 Contrary to the account provided in Anonymus Valesianus, Jordanes makes the claim in his work, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, Getica, that the idea was Theodoric's: So [Theodoric] chose rather to seek a living by his own exertions...After pondering these matters, he said to the Emperor: "Though I lack nothing in serving your Empire, yet if Your Piety deem it worthy, be pleased to hear the desire of my heart"..."The western country, long ago governed by the rule of your ancestors and predecessors...--wherefore is it now shaken by the tyranny of the Torcilingi and the Rugi?
Procopius writes of the event in The Wars of Justinian, The Gothic war: "And for some time they observed the agreement; but afterward [Theodoric] caught [Odovacar], as they say, plotting against him, and bidding him to a feast with treacherous intent slew him..."[9] From That point on Theodoric had become the undisputed king of Italy, establishing the Ostrogothic Kingdom, headed at Ravenna, that would last until 553.
Subsequently, Narses conquered Ravenna without encountering any opposition, thereby ending a roughly half-century period of Ostrogothic rule of the city.
Indeed in the apse, if you look closely, you will find the following written above the windows in stone letters: 'King Theodoric made this church from its foundations in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[14] Cassiodorus in his Orationum Reliquiae states "The marble surface shines with the same color as gems, the scattered gold gleams.
.. , the gifts of mosaic work delineate the circling rows of stones; and the whole is adorned with marble hues where the waxen pictures are displayed.
[17] The Ostrogoths, though having power themselves, by no means supplanted the entire Roman population of Ravenna, Italy, or of the ruling administration.
Theodoric, however, was the keystone in maintaining order amongst the peoples that he ruled, commanding respect and fear in equal measure from both Romans and Goths alike.
He both allowed for the Jews of Genoa to rebuild and remodel their synagogue[21] as well as assured them that the privileges awarded then since antiquity would remain in place.
[22] In Ravenna, the pretense for the attack was that the Jews of the city had ridiculed Christians and even thrown holy water into the river.
She is praised heavily by Cassiodorus in a letter to the Senate of Rome[24] and Procopius describes her leadership skills saying "[Amalasuntha] proved to be endowed with wisdom and regard for justice in the highest degree, displaying to a great extent the masculine temper.
They sought to give a more "barbarian" education to the young king – one that involved much more drinking and debauchery – and it eventually led to his death in 534.
This murder gave Justinian the pretense by which he could launch his war in 535 that eventually destroyed the Gothic Kingdom and ended Ravenna's period of imperial aspirations.
Theodoric introduced during his reign a new Rome-Ravenna political iconography[26] and went so far as to have any land grants to be picked up by his soldiers be done in person, in Ravenna.