Part one follows Tamburlaine from his origins as a shepherd under threat from the Persian emperor, through his defeat of that ruler, up to the peak of his powers, having consolidated his control, and expanded the reach, of the Persian empire. 'Tamburlaine' is Marlowe's seminal play: with the story of a complex and ruthless conqueror he created a magnificent theatrical architecture of power and ambition and proclaimed a new kind of verse.