There are, in 2021, many conspiracy theories involving the State. Sometimes it is about the State covering up something, sometimes it involves secret societies or space aliens, etc. They are popular enough that they even appear in pop culture.

But when did that trend start? Would a Roman have told me that maybe the Emperor was actually a secret Nubian agent, or that Caesar was actually killed by Augustus playing the long con?

I'm specifically interested in the birth of conspiracy theories involving the State itself, or something linked extremely closely to the State (like for example the various Illuminati conspiracies), rather than conspiracy theories in general.

Also just in case, I didn't ask this question to give credence to any conspiracy theory, I'm purely interested in the history of the conspiracy theory phenomenon itself.