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This chapter studies several plays performed during the early 1600s, shortly after England had created a relevant trading presence in the eastern Mediterranean and ‘turning Turk’ had become a regular theme on the stage. The discussion first identifies the importance between the early Christian martyrdom and the strategies for resisting Islam, which is presented in Thomas Dekker's The Virgin Martyr. It then shows how the early modern stage called upon histories of previous pagan persecution to portray the threat of persecution from the Muslims. The chapter also takes a look at the plays' idealization of embodied chastity and how they model Christian resistance through preserved female virginity.

This chapter describes the Diocletian, the Great Persecution, Christian martyrdom, and then the religious policies of Constantine, with particular attention to his dealings with the early Donatists. It also examines the motives and justifications behind pagan emperors' persecution of Christians, and argues that some of the same attitudes toward violence and coercion persisted under the Christian empire. Moreover, it describes the formation of Christian concepts of martyrdom that cast a shadow over the religious conflicts of later generations. The end of persecution had been accompanied by an even more dramatic development: for the first time in history, an emperor had openly embraced Christianity. Constantine's mention—and dismissal—of martyrdom not only implies his awareness that lethal force was necessary, but also suggests that he anticipated how the Donatists might have responded to coercive violence. Violence used for the sake of unity shatters that unity.

This chapter explores the relationship between historical representations of Waorani and indigenous forms of social memory that define Waorani people as victims or “prey” to violence. To accomplish this task, the chapter draws on the autobiographical narratives of Waorani elders and the place of Waorani concepts of civilización (“civilization”) in such narratives. The Waorani elders' stories about past revenge killings and becoming “civilized” not only describe a time of intense violence but also voice indigenous understandings of what it means to be Waorani and kowori in the context of social transformation. The chapter relates the emphasis on victimhood in Waorani narratives to imagery of Christian martyrdom in missionary writings and in End of the Spear, a Hollywood film about the Palm Beach killings in 1956. By comparing missionary narratives to the stories of indigenous peoples, the chapter reveals the shared and contrasting ways in which Waorani and kowori people represent past violence.