The Tired Fools blog found a credit crunch in ancient Rome, Tacitus’ “The Annals of Imperial Rome”:
Accusers were now intensely active. Their present targets were men who enriched themselves by usury, infringing laws by which the dictator Julius Ceasar had controlled loans and land-ownership in Italy. Since patriotism comes second to private profits, this law had long been ignored. Money-lending is an ancient problem in Rome, and a frequent cause of disharmony and disorder. Even in an earlier, less corrupt society steps had been taken against it.
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Fraudulence, attacked by repeated legislation, was ingeniously revived after each successive counter-measure. …when the capitalists received payment they hoarded it…
Then Tiberius came to the rescue. He distributed a hundred million among specially established banks… [but as] usual, the beginning was strict, the sequel slack.