Based on a Babylonian folk tale of two lovers who suffer a tragic end, the
Roman poet Ovid retold the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe in his Metamorphoses.
The theme of Pyramus and Thisbe is akin to that of Romeo and Juliet and other
ill-fated lovers in poetry and prose. Shakespeare incorporated a travesty of
"Pyramus and Thisbe" into A Midsummer Night’s Dream.