I'm neither a historian nor an economist, but as far as I know, there's been quite a few ups and downs like that throughout history, with Florence and Spain bei

I'm neither a historian nor an economist, but as far as I know, there's been quite a few ups and downs like that throughout history, with Florence and Spain being the most prominent examples that comes to my mind. I'd guess that the major issue with going even further back is that there simply isn't enough detailed data.