I had a lucky Greek start where the galley was west (not east) of the starting position. I thought it would be great to hook up the copper in the Balkans and to use my culture to block the Romans from encroaching, so I built Epidamnos as my capital (Corinth was the other city). What happened was I built many wonders there (all except the Oracle which was built 5 turns into my game), and had a great artist who created a great work. Instantly the southern half of Rome's territory was gone. When they were unstable Rome (the capital) actually flipped to me! I thought this wasn't supposed to happen?

Capitals can flip due to culture in standard CIV. It is a rare occurence, but it can happen.

As the Maya, with my capital as Oaxaca I vassalized the Aztec immediately upon their spawning. In the 1500s my culture flipped Tenochtitlan, leaving them with only 1 city.

Good times.

I managed to cultural flip Dehli when it was the Indians capital, now that is an achievment I am proud of. (600ad start, as khmer invaded patna and was using itas one of my 3 cities for a cultural victory before the limit increased...

Capitals can flip due to culture, but they don't flip upon spawning.