When Julius Caesar was killed in 44 BC, Augustus was a mere teenager who had been adopted into his household. Proclaiming himself Caesar's rightful successor, Augustus raised his own army and, after defeating Mark Antony in battle, became one of the three most powerful men in Rome. Over the next ten years he overthrew his rivals in 31 BC, and as the author of Philip and Alexander recounts, from that moment, Rome became an empire, and Augustus its first emperor. Here Adrian Goldsworthy tells the story of how one man rose to become the most powerful man in the world, and stabilized a nation that had been racked by decades of civil war.