Okay, it's most likely related to the Lucinda font problem that a good many people have reported. There are several threads that deal with the issue, but here's the first step:
1. Uninstall Civ 3.
2. Move the Lucida Sans fonts out of windows Fonts folder (back up the fonts folder as a precaution).
3. Reboot
4. Install Civ. That should take care of the issue.
If that doesn't work, try a search in the Civ 3 Technical Support using the word fonts.