Editing Iapodes (section)

==Roman conquest==
Romans said of the Iapodes that they were a warlike race addicted to plundering expeditions,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} but other archaeological documentation confirms their main economical activity was mining and metallurgy. That attracted the pragmatic  Romans to conquer their country, whose river valleys were also a natural way for  strategic communications between the Adriatic and Pannonia. Therefore, induced conflicts started from 171 BC, when consul [[Gaius Cassius Longinus (consul 171 BC)|Gaius Cassius Longinus]] first attacked Iapodes. In 129 BC, Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus attacked the Iapodes and was nearly defeated, but [[Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus|Decimus Iunius Brutus]] arrived and rescued him, and he celebrated a [[triumph (Roman)|triumph]].<ref>''CIL'' I<sup>2</sup> 48176</ref> [[Lucius Aurelius Cotta (consul 119 BC)|Lucius Aurelius Cotta]] and [[Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus|Gaius Caecilius Metellus]] undertook another expedition against the Iapodes in 119, which concluded with a triumph in 117. In 78–76 BC they were also attacked by [[Gaius Cosconius]] as part of a war against the Dalmatians.<ref>J. J. Wilkes, ''Dalmatia'' (1969), 30-34, 46.</ref> They had a ''[[foederati|foedus]]'' from 56 BC with Rome and paid a ''tributum'', but then from 52–47 BC rebelled. In 34 BC they were finally conquered by [[Augustus Caesar]]. Then they conserved a partial autonomy with a domestic ''praepositus Iapodum''.