In "Titus Andranicus," Shakespeare makes many allusions to Seneca's play "Thyestes" and to Ovid's "Metamorphoses." There are a lot of similar episodes in all of these works and some of them are very obvious.
             In the beginning of "Titus Andranicus" Titus returns from a war against the Goths, having won the war, and brings with him the queen of the Goths, Tamora, her sons, and other prisoners. Titus' son asks his father to give one of the prisoners to be sacrificed. Titus gives Tamora's eldest son and they sacrifice him (Act 1, Scene 1, P.921, L. 1). This is a clear allusion to Seneca's play "Thyestes" where Atreus, king of Argos, sacrifices his brother Thyestes' own sons in honor of Thyestes himself (Act 4, P.75, L.22). Although, these two episodes are a bit different, there are a lot of similarities. Seneca gives a more graphic description of the sacrifice than Shakespeare does but in both cases the bodies are cut into pieces and put on fire to be cooked. Also, in both cases, the sacrifice is done as an act of vengeance.
             In act three of "Titus Andranicus" Titus is taken by surprise when a messenger brings to him the head of his two sons (Act 3, Scene 1, P.932, L.46). The emperor promises Titus to spare his sons in return for Titus' hand, which Titus sends him, but does not keep his promise. A similar thing happens in both the "Thyestes" and in the "Metamorphoses." In the "Thyestes," Atreus surprises his brother Thyestes, by showing the severed heads of his three children, who thinks that his brother's intentions were to make peace (Act 5, P. 89, L. 2). In the "Metamorphoses," Tereus, the king of Thrace, is shown his son' severed head. His wife, Procne, kills their son to avenge her husband for the evil deeds he has committed against her sister, Philomela. Then Philomela herself brings th...