OK. I knew that this story sounded familiar!

Playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564–1616) makes frequent use of the Philomela myth—most notably in his tragedy Titus Andronicus (c. 1588–1593) where characters directly reference Tereus and Philomela in commenting on rape and mutilation of Lavinia by Aaron, Chiron, and Demetrius. Prominent allusions to Philomela also occur in the depiction of Lucrece in The Rape of Lucrece, in the depiction of Imogen in Cymbeline, and in Titania’s lullaby in A Midsummer Night’s Dream where she asks Philomel to “sing in our sweet lullaby”.

GB 4th June 2019 : Lavinia and Lucretia

I did quite a bit of work with Titus Andronicus that summer :o)

So. Ovid started it all, did he?