I was thinking more of the "people's" party of the Roman republic which replaced electoral government with divine monarchy in 27 BC. It's a rather fragrant example of what I'm describing as well as the first one I know of, but I doubt it's the first time it actually happened.
Christianity couldn't have been a tool of the rich and powerful in the first century, because it only began acquiring powerful followers around the third century crisis.
Was this not happening before the estimated birth of Jesus of Nazareth?