In all these thousands of years, capitalism existed. People traded with other countries. Those who got into trade got rich. People who were allied with the ruli

In all these thousands of years, capitalism existed. People traded with other countries. Those who got into trade got rich. People who were allied with the ruling class were rich. The people who were rich used their wealth to accumulate more wealth. It was pretty much the same as today in terms of the pareto distribution of power and wealth.