or was an autonomous territory in ancient Roman Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....

 (in present-day Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

), located in the area around present-day town of Daruvar

Daruvar

Daruvar is a town in central Croatia, population 9,815 , total municipality population 13,243 ....

. Its administrative center was the town of Municipium Iasorum, located in or near present-day Daruvar. The territory of the region extended from the Sava to the Drava

Drava

Drava or Drave is a river in southern Central Europe, a tributary of the Danube. It sources in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy, and flows east through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria, into Slovenia , and then southeast, passing through Croatia and forming most of the border between Croatia and...

.

Name

Terms Res Publica Iasorum and Municipium Iasorum referred to both the administrative center of the region; and the area that was under its jurisdiction.

Other terms for the region (and town) include Jasoru Republic, Respublik Iasoru and Respublica Jassorum , while other terms for the town itself included Aquae Balissae, Jasi and Jazora.

History

The first written sources that could refer to these areas of southern Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....

 offer information about the Pannonian (Illyrian

Illyrians

The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...

)-Celtic tribe of the Iasi

Iasi

Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...

. Iasi were autochtonic people of Pannonia, but there is possibility of their distant Iranian

Iranian peoples

The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

 origin, due to the similarity of their ethnic name with name of Sarmatian

Sarmatians

The Iron Age Sarmatians were an Iranian people in Classical Antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD....

 Iazyges

Iazyges

The Iazyges were an ancient nomadic tribe. Known also as Jaxamatae, Ixibatai, Iazygite, Jászok, Ászi, they were a branch of the Sarmatian people who, c. 200 BC, swept westward from central Asia onto the steppes of what is now Ukraine...

.

The first contact of the Iasi with the Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 is attributed to the period of the latter's penetration to Segestica in 159 or 156 BC. After the repression of the major rebellion headed by Bato

Bato

Bato can have different meanings, not related in Etymology, in various times, places and cultures:-People:Bato as an Illyrian male name may refer to:*Bato of Dalmatia, Illyrian tribal chief...

 (6-9 AD), the Romans founded a military camp in the Daruvar basin, at the site previously occupied by the Iasian oppidum

Oppidum

Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...

. Through the process of Romanization

Romanization

In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...

, the tribal civitas acquired the status of Res Publica Iasorum. With the partition of Pannonia at the beginning of the 2nd century, it belonged to Upper Pannonia

Upper Pannonia

The Upper Pannonia or Pannonia Superior was ancient Roman province with the capital Carnuntum. It was formed in the year 103 AD. Upper Pannonia included parts of present-day Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovakia....

.

During the reign of Hadrian

Hadrian

Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

, Italic immigrants, veterans and other foreign bearers of the rights of Roman citizenship

Roman citizenship

Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....

 organized themselves, together with the local inhabitants, into Municipium Iasorum at the site of the ancient oppidum in the Daruvar

Daruvar

Daruvar is a town in central Croatia, population 9,815 , total municipality population 13,243 ....

 basin.
The city was the administrative center of the Iasi tribe, but the extensive territory of the tribe had other prominent settlements, such as Aquae Iasae (near today's Varaždinske Toplice

Varaždinske Toplice

Varaždinske Toplice is a town in Croatia in the Varaždin County. The town is well known for its hot springs and medical center Aquae Iasae.In the 2011 census, the population of the municipality is 6,399, composed of the following settlements:...

) and at least one settlement called Iovia (near today's Ludbreg

Ludbreg

Ludbreg is a town in Croatia, located halfway between Varaždin and Koprivnica near the river Drava. It has 3,594 inhabitants, and a total of 8,458 in the entire municipality .-History:...

), that were not part of the Municipium.

Inscriptions

Inscriptions founded in the ruins of ancient Roman bath near Daruvar are indicating that republic dedicated this bath to Roman emperor Commodus

Commodus

Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...

(180-192 AD).

One of the inscriptions founded near Daruvar says:

• DIVO LUC AUREL
• COMMODO CAES
• PATRI PATRIAE
• HAS THERMAS
• DEDICA VIT
• RESPUBLIK IASORU

Another inscription founded in the area says:

• THERMAE
• IASORVENSES H C