Lineages
Every great book stands on older ones. Homer gave Virgil his wanderings and his war; Virgil walked Dante through Hell. Start from a classic and follow its line, one work at a time, across the map.
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What it draws on
Aeschylus, 457 BC, a classic
Aristophanes borrows from Aeschylus for comic effect: the nightingale's song and Iris's threats of divine anger in The Birds are lifted from Agamemnon.
Source: Wikipedia, The Birds (play)
“Moreover, a description of the nightingale (677) and Iris's threats of divine wrath (1240) are borrowed from Agamemnon, and Pisthetaerus' counter-threat to burn down Zeus's house (1246–7) appears to have been borrowed from Niobe.” Read it there
Its heirs
William Shakespeare, AD 1600
Some scholars see Aristophanes' Birds behind Shakespeare's wood near Athens: in both a sleeping queen is woken by a singing creature with an animal's head, Titania by Bottom, Procne by the Hoopoe.
Source: Wikipedia, A Midsummer Night's Dream
“Aristophanes' classical Greek comedy The Birds (also set in the countryside near Athens) has been proposed as a source due to the fact that both Procne and Titania are awakened by male characters (Hoopoe and Bottom the Weaver) who have animal heads and who sing two-stanza songs about birds.” Read it there