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This chapter contextualizes Islam's early history by proposing an eastward shift of emphasis. It revises the geographical framework; the Mediterranean world of the Greeks and Romans is replaced by the “Eurasian Hinge,” a triptych of regions with the Iranian plateau and the Eastern Mediterranean as its wings, and the “Mountain Arena” as its centerpiece. This geographical framework adopts the Eurasian perspective in its widest sense, from Japan or at least China to Britain, and makes Rome's eastern peripheries the center of one's world. The chapter argues that the “Eurasian Hinge” nourished two world empires no other could challenge and which, along with Christian Rome, spawned political and cultural “commonwealths” within the same frame: the Achaemenids with their continuator Alexander, and a millennium later the Islamic Caliphate of the Umayyads and Abbasids.

This chapter shows that, to provide a solution to the problem of the divided city that was inherent in ancient Rome and that became prominent in Christian times, Niccolò Machiavelli must go beyond Livy's depiction of Rome. He offers indications that his embrace of Livy's Rome is a calculated and provisional step to win the sympathy of his Renaissance readers, who are imbued with an abiding admiration of antiquity. His final destination is a new Rome that corrects the problems of ancient as well as of Christian Rome, and he arrives there by making changes in Livy's account. The problems inherent in both ancient and Christian Rome are corrected by his sketching the outlines of a new, more resilient Rome. The solution he suggests is distinctively modern because it emerges from his own understanding of the manner in which the Christians defeated the pagans. In short, Machiavelli's new Rome utilizes elements of both paganism and Christianity in order to subvert both.

This chapter takes a look at Niccolò Machiavelli's treatment of Christianity as it entered Rome. By anticipating the coming of Christianity, he suggests that its attraction was merely a deepening of the appeals made with increasing and regrettable success during the period of Rome's decline. He states that Caesar was Rome's first tyrant and goes on to suggest that Caesar was actually outdone by Christ, in the same way that Caesar outdid the Gracchi. And although the Roman people so readily accepted Christ's alluring appeal, Machiavelli will not censure them. He places the blame for the success of Christianity in Rome instead on the constitution of that city which was unnecessarily vulnerable to the machinations of these aspiring tyrants; ancient Rome, in his view, was itself responsible for the favorable reception Christianity received there.

This chapter begins by discussing the importance of the geographical position of Rome. It then explains that according to tradition, the city was formed from the incorporation of surrounding villages into the most important settlement in the region, that on the Palatine. Next, the chapter discusses the early development and building activities that occurred in Rome. It then talks about the city's territorial expansion during the sixth century. The chapter also mentions the emergence of a new city alongside and extending beyond the old city: Christian Rome.

This chapter reviews the comparison between Hamlet and Titus Andronicus. It explains how Titus operated as an exercise in natural theology and thought experiment that is set in an elaborately evoked pre-Christian Rome. It also points out how Titus sets up a revenge-based primal scene, within which the relations between revenge, religion, and resistance are examined. The chapter highlights the great confessional conflicts of the 1500s that are evoked through the annihilating religious violence, attendant discourses of martyrdom, and persecution at the heart of the action. It also compares the relationship between the plays Titus Andronicus and Richard III to Hamlet and Julius Caesar. It argues how Williams Shakespeare's plays responded to the central issues of tyranny and resistance.