Coriolanus

Content Warning: This section of the guide references historical events involving sexual violence.

Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who serves as the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Caius Martius Coriolanus in the play. The historical Coriolanus was thought to have lived during the 5th century BC and to have received his agnomen—a third name in ancient Rome that denotes a deed or trait rather than family lineage—during a battle with the Volscian army at the city of Corioli. The narrative of his life appears in works of Roman history such as Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita and Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. As the surviving accounts of Coriolanus appeared long after he would have lived, modern historians remain uncertain whether his life is a legend or if he was a real person.

According to the historical narratives about Coriolanus, he rose to prominence after serving in the army of the consul Postumus Cominius. During an attack on the city of Corioli, the Roman army was pinned between Volscian reinforcements outside of the town and a sally from the gates of the city. After the young soldier held back the sally and then attacked the gates, setting fire to the houses along the wall, he was awarded the agnomen “Coriolanus” to commemorate his brave deeds. Two years later, Coriolanus was exiled from the city after grain shortages forced the senate to import more grain from Sicily. Coriolanus advocated that the grain should only be distributed if political reforms aimed at giving the plebeians more power in government were repealed, enraging the populace and prompting the tribunes to put him on trial.

After failing to attend the trial, Coriolanus left Rome and fled to the Volscian leader Attius Tullus Aufidius, whom he persuaded to break the previous treaty with Rome and begin attacking its towns and colonies. After his forces besieged Rome, the consuls of the city attempted to sue for peace with Coriolanus, but their ambassadors and priests were rebuffed. It was only after Coriolanus’s mother Veturia, called Volumnia by Plutarch, came out to plead with him that he ended the siege. While other accounts end there, Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, which served as Shakespeare’s primary source, claims that Coriolanus returned to Antium, where he was put on trial by the Volscians and later assassinated.