by Marie Antonia Parsons

Created on: November 19, 2009   Last Updated: November 21, 2009

Gnaeus Marcius called Coriolanus lived in the time when Rome, still barely more than a town on seven hills, had just thrown off her rule by kings. This legendary hero is known only from the histories written by Livy, Plutarch, Dionysus of Halicarnassus and some fragments in Appian's Italy. Shakespeare's dramatic life of Coriolanus is based upon Plutarch. Coriolanus will become more familiar to moviegoers all over the world when he is portrayed by actor Gerard Butler in an upcoming film.

Unlike Cincinnatus and Horatius, also legendary heroes of his time, who are remembered for their bravery and nobility, Coriolanus is described as first a hero who then has a tragic fall from renown and grace, who was either executed or finished out his life in exile.

Brief History of the Times

When Marcius was born, Rome's boundaries extended to around a thousand paces out toward the Alban Hills. It was bordered by Etruscans, Sabines, Volscii, Aequi, and other peoples. Livy recounts that Tarquinius, last king of the Etruscan dynasty ruling over Rome, was overthrown with all his family by aristocrats including Junius Brutus, an ancestor of the later Brutus who co-conspired to assassinate Julius Caesar. These early aristocrats may have been hostile to the Etruscan tyrants, and the people, so Livy says, were now thirsty for liberty, and they swore oaths to never have any king again. Rome fought with the Etruscans several times as they attempted to give aid to Tarquinius in his bid to return to the throne of Rome.

During its wars with the Etruscans, Latin League and Volscians, Rome found time to accomplish other things. Rome dedicated temples to Saturn and Mercury and instituted the festival of the Saturnalia, which was celebrated in late December.

The patricians and the plebeians had been hostile to each other for years, the latter complaining that they were oppressed and enslaved. The plebeians included shopkeepers, artisans, and small property owners. Debts contracted by small property owners were given at extortionate rates, along with the food shortages. To placate them, tribunes were appointed who would look after their interests. But when war threatened, the consul at the time made promises to the plebeians that they would not be imprisoned for debt payment so long as they served in the army. In 494 BCE, the plebeians had actually withdrawn to the Sacred Mount and to the Aventine Hill in a kind of secession from Rome which deprived the patricians of their manual workers.

Early

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