Coriolanus is about a Roman general in the fifth century BC.
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Roman history was popular subject to study at the time that Shakespeare wrote this play. Elizabeth I would have found the entertaining, and approved of it's theme of chaos after the Roman leader's death.
Shakespeare wrote his first play for the same reason he wrote all of them--for money.
Shakespeare was following the traditions of English Drama of his day as set by his contemporaries Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe. He also wrote one play based in its structure as well as its plot on a Roman play. Roman literature, which was the staple of Shakespeare's education, had a profound effect on the way in which Shakespeare structured his sentences and his characters' speeches.
The Tempest
William Shakespeare