Specifically :
"Of course, there aren't many direct descendants of the Byzantine Emperors around any more to argue their case for inclusion in the game - the last one had his eyes gouged out around 1453 during the fall of Constantinople. But Meier has seen fit to restore them to their former glory, complete with the Dromon Unique Unit to spew Greek fire at enemy triremes. Theodora, wife of Justinian, takes the reins of power for the Byzantines."
And of a lot more interest :
"Speculating on what playable civs will make the cut is a favorite pastime for most Civ fans, and a fair amount of revisionist or just plain erroneous history is marshaled in support of playing the Dutch, Portuguese, Hittites, Sumerians or whoever else appeals to their sense of national identity."
I'm quite stunned by that statement...either they're just plain off (gamer.tv), or else a LOT of what we think we know about C3C civs has just been thrown off overboard...