What happened when the Romans came to Greece? As elsewhere they imposed their will, in one way or another. Octavian aka Augustus might appear to have had boyish charm, and been harmless, and he was not much of a fighter, indeed he let others mostly do his fighting during the period when he was battling Brutus and co. including near Philippi, but in fact he was rather ruthless.
This statue as well was lost at sea between two of the Cyclades islands, and rescued in modernity.
Did Octavian make things better in Greece? Not really. Things kept on going wrong and children kept on dying, so his rhetoric about peace and prosperity and good health, was just that. Here is a heartbreaking grave stele remembering Olympias, a child who died far too young. Here she is holding her pet bird……
Perhaps we should remember as well that Octavian did not come up with laws against child labor either, so you even have children, mere boys serving their masters by racing horses in the circus maximus, because they were so light weight and the horse would go faster…. Here’s a famous statue in the Athens museum…
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