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Volumnia

Volumnia is a character in William Shakespeare's play Coriolanus, the mother of Caius Martius Coriolanus. She plays a large role in Coriolanus' life, encouraging him in his military success and urging him to seek political office. When the people of Rome put her son in exile and he joins their military enemies, she manages to persuade him not to besiege Rome and becomes a heroine to the city.

Scholars have noted her profound control over her son and her effect on his attitude towards life throughout the play. Rather than offering nourishment, Volumnia constantly urges her son towards aggression. Psychoanalytic literary scholars even suggest that she protects him as if he were her sexual partner, even keeping Coriolanus' own wife away from him. Performance of the role has changed over time as focus shifted from male roles to female roles. During the Romantic Period, she was portrayed as a stately, calm woman. More recently roles have made her much more emotive.

Volumnia (wife of Coriolanus)

Volumnia (according to Plutarch, her name was Vergilia) was the wife of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus in ancient Rome.

Coriolanus was exiled from Rome following a dispute with the tribunes of the plebs, and his family remained in Rome. Coriolanus became a leader of the neighbouring Volsci and led them against Rome, besieging it. Envoys from Rome failed to persuade Coriolanus to desist. Then an embassy of Roman matrons, including Volumnia, their two sons, Coriolanus' mother Veturia, and other matrons, went to Coriolanus and convinced him to break off the siege. Rome honoured the service of these women by the erection of a temple dedicated to Fortuna (a female deity).

She appears as a character in Shakespeare's play, Coriolanus, named Virgilia.