Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus

Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, legendary Roman hero who supposedly lived during the 5th century bc. He is said to have received the surname Coriolanus after he captured the town of Corioli, which belonged to the Volsci, a people living in a region south of Rome.

According to the ancient Greek biographer Plutarch, Coriolanus was a member of the patrician class. He strongly opposed the plebs, a class of Roman people long considered inferior to the patricians. But during Coriolanus’s time the plebs gradually increased their political power. During a famine Coriolanus argued that grain should not be distributed to the starving plebs unless they abolished their newly established tribunate (a political office). For his behavior, Coriolanus was banished.

Coriolanus later took refuge among the Volsci, whom he aided in their war with the Romans. As Coriolanus prepared to attack Rome, his aged mother, Veturia, and his wife, Volumnia, persuaded him to spare the city. (In some versions of the story, his mother is identified as Volumnia and his wife as Virgilia.) According to most versions of the legend, Coriolanus was then killed by the angry Volsci.