Gaius Marcius Coriolanus Gaius Marcius ( Caius Martius ) Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC . He received his toponymic cognomen " Coriolanus " because of his exceptional valor in a Roman siege of the Volsci an city of Corioli . He was then promoted to the rank of general . In later ancient times , it was generally accepted by historians that Coriolanus was a real historical individual , and a consensus narrative story of his life appeared , retold by leading historians such as Livy , Plutarch , and Dionysius of Halicarnassus . More recent scholarship has cast doubt on the historicity of Coriolanus , portraying him as either a wholly legendary figure or at least disputing the accuracy of the conventional story of his life . According to Plutarch , his ancestors included prominent patricians such as Censorinus and even an early King of Rome . This is part of the strong background he took such pride in as a Roman noble in search of glory and excellence . The story is the basis for the tragedy of " Coriolanus " , written by William Shakespeare , and a number of other works , including Beethoven ' s Coriolan Overture . The consensus biography . Coriolanus came to fame as a young man serving in the army of the consul Postumus Cominius Auruncus in 493 BC during the siege of the Volscian town of Corioli . Whilst the Romans were forcused on the siege , another Volscian force arrived from Antium and attacked the Romans , and at the same time the soldiers of Corioli launched a sally . Coriolanus ( then known only as Gaius Marcius ) held watch at the time of the Volscian attack . He quickly gathered a small force of Roman soldiers to fight against the Volscians who had sallied forth from Corioli . Not only did he repel the enemy , but he charged through the town gates and then began setting fire to some of the houses bordering the town wall . The citizens of Corioli cried out , and the whole Volscian force was dispirited and was defeated by the Romans . The town was captured , and Marcius gained the cognomen Coriolanus . After defeating the Volscians and winning support from the patricians of the Roman Senate , Coriolanus argued against the democratic inclinations of the plebeians , thereby making many personal enemies . The general was charged with misappropriation of public funds , convicted , and permanently banished from Rome . As a result of this ingratitude , the exiled general turned against Rome and declared allegiance to the same Volscians he had once fought against . Plutarch ' s account of his defection tells that Coriolanus donned a disguise and entered the home of a wealthy Volscian noble , Tullus Aufidius . The unmasked Coriolanus appealed to Aufidius as a supplicant . Coriolanus and Aufidius then persuaded the Volscians to break their truce with Rome and raise an army to invade . When Coriolanus ' s Volscian troops threatened the city , Roman matrons , including his wife and mother , were sent to persuade him to call off the attack . At the sight of his mother Veturia ( known as Volumnia in Shakespeare ' s play ) , wife Virgilia and children throwing themselves at his feet in supplication , Coriolanus relented , withdrew his troops from the border of Rome , and retired to Aufidius ' s home city of Antium . Coriolanus had thus committed acts of disloyalty to both Rome and the Volscians . Aufidius then raised support to have Coriolanus first put on trial by the Volscians , and then assassinated before the trial had ended . The tale of Coriolanus ' s appeal to Aufidius is quite similar to a tale from the life of Themistocles , a leader of the Athenian democracy who was a contemporary of Coriolanus . During Themistocles ' exile from Athens , he traveled to the home of Admetus , King of the Molossians , a man who was his personal enemy . Themistocles came to Admetus in disguise and appealed to him as a fugitive , just as Coriolanus appealed to Aufidius . Themistocles , however , never attempted military retaliation against Athens . Modern scepticism . Coriolanus ' s story is today deemed legendary by some modern scholars . Whether or not Coriolanus himself is a historical figure — and note that neither he nor any of the other leading figures in his tale can be confirmed by the consular Fasti — the saga preserves a genuine popular memory of the dark , unhappy decades of the early 5th century BC when the Volscians overran Latium and threatened the very existence of Rome . Cultural references . Shakespeare ' s " Coriolanus " is the last of his " Roman plays " . Its portrayal of the hero has led to a long tradition of political interpretation of Coriolanus as an anti - populist , or even proto - fascist leader . Bertolt Brecht ' s version of " Coriolanus " ( 1951 ) stresses this aspect . Suzanne Collins also references the anti - populist interpretation in " The Hunger Games " trilogy with her character President Coriolanus Snow , a totalitarian dictator who preserves order in the degenerate society of the books , though this character has little in common with the figure Coriolanus . Shakespeare ' s play also forms the basis of the 2011 motion picture " Coriolanus " , starring and directed by Ralph Fiennes , in which Coriolanus is the protagonist . Heinrich Joseph von Collin ' s 1804 play " Coriolan " portrayed him in the context of German romantic ideas of the tragic hero . Beethoven ' s Coriolan Overture was written for a production of the von Collin play . Steven Saylor ' s " Roma " presents Coriolanus as a plebeian , the child of a patrician mother and plebeian father . His attitudes toward the changes occurring in Rome during his lifetime are reflective of what has been described . He achieves Senatorial status thanks to his military valor and connections . When he calls for the abolition of the office of Tribune , he becomes a target of the plebeians and their representatives . He flees before the trial which would ruin him and his family socially and financially , and seeks the alliance with the Volsci described above . His military campaign against Rome is successful and his forces are approaching the walls of the city until the appeal of the Roman women , including his patrician mother and his wife . When he orders his troops to withdraw , he is killed by them .