Page "Titus Andronicus" Paragraph 47

Shakespeare also drew on various sources for the names of many of his characters.

For example, Titus could have been named after the Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who ruled Rome from 79 to 81.

Jonathan Bate speculates that the name Andronicus could have come from Andronikos V Palaiologos, co-emperor of Byzantium from 1403 – 1407, but as it is unknown how Shakespeare could have been familiar with these individuals, and it is thought more likely that he took the name from the story " Andronicus and the lion " in Antonio de Guevara's Epistolas familiares.

The story involves a sadistic emperor named Titus who amused himself by throwing slaves to wild animals and watching them be slaughtered.

However, upon throwing a slave called Andronicus to a lion, the lion lies down and embraces the man.

The emperor demands to know what has happened, and Andronicus explains that he had once helped the lion by removing a thorn from its foot.

Bate speculates that this story, with one character called Titus and another called Andronicus, could be why several contemporary references to the play are in the form Titus & ondronicus.