The Iapodes (or Iapydes, Japodes; Greek: Ἰάποδες; Serbo-Croatian: Japodi) were an ancient people who dwelt north of and inland from the Liburnians, off the Adriatic coast and eastwards of the Istrian peninsula. They occupied the interior of the country between the Colapis (Kupa) and Oeneus (Una) rivers, and the Velebit mountain range (Mons Baebius) which separated them from the coastal Liburnians.[1] Their territory covered the central inlands of modern Croatia and Una River Valley in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina. Archaeological documentation confirms their presence in these countries at least from 9th century BC, and they persisted in their area longer than a millennium. The ancient written documentation on inland Iapodes is scarcer than on the adjacent coastal peoples (Liburni, Delmatae, etc.) that had more frequent maritime contacts with ancient Greeks and Romans.
The Iapodes had their maximal development and territorial expansion from the 8th to 4th centuries BC. They settled mostly in inland mountain valleys between Pannonia and the coastal Adriatic basin, but in disputation with southern Liburni they periodically reached also the northern Adriatic coast at Vinodol valley (classical Valdevinum).
Knowledge of the Iapodes' culture is largely nebulous due to a lack of material evidence. The Iapodes are believed to have been Illyrians, probably a subgroup of Pannonians, or a mixed group with connections to the Pannonians, Celts,[2][3][4] and/or Veneti.[5]
A major scholar of the Japodi was archaeologist Branka Raunig.[6]
Iapodes territory in cca 5th century BC
^Chisholm 1911.
^A Classical Dictionary: Containing The Principle Proper Names Mentioned In Ancient Authors Part One by Charles Anthon,2005,page 539: "... Tor, " elevated," " a mountain. " (Strabo, 293) ; the Iapodes (Strabo, 313), a Gallo-Illyrian race occupying the val. leys of ..."
^Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992,ISBN 0-631-19807-5,page 79,"along with the evidence of name formulae, a Venetic element among the Japodes. A group of names identified by Alföldy as of Celtic origin: Ammida, Andes, Iaritus, Matera, Maxa,"
^The origins of the Europeans: classical observations in culture and personality by William Scott Shelley,1997,ISBN 1573092207,page 222,The Transalpine Iapydes, a Pannonian tribe, was both strong and savage
^Wilkes, J.J. The Illyrians. Blackwell, 1992, ISBN 0-631-19807-5, p. 79. "...along with the evidence of name formulae, a Venetic element among the Japodes. A group of names identified by Alföldy as of Celtic origin: Ammida, Andes, Iaritus, Matera, Maxa,..."
^"Sjećanje na Branku Raunig (1935-2008)". Zemaljski muzej Bosne i Hercegovine (in Bosnian). 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
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