Theodoric, surnamed the Great, founder of the monarchy of the Ostro- or East Goths, son of Theodemir, the Ostrogothic king of Pannonia; was for ten years during his youth a hostage at the Byzantine Court at Constantinople; succeeded his father in 475, and immediately began to push the fortunes of the Ostrogoths; various territories fell into his hands, and alarm arose at the Imperial Court; in 493 advanced upon Italy, overthrew Odoacer, and after his murder became sole ruler; was now the most powerful of the Gothic kings, with an empire embracing Italy, Sicily, and Dalmatia, besides German possessions; as a ruler proved himself as wise as he was strong; became in after years one of the great heroes of German legend, and figures in the “Nibelungenlied” (455‒526).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Theodoret * Theodosius I., the Great