AS IT'S WELL KNOWN, Bizantines drove gas-guzzling chariots that, together with their massive CO2 factories, created a massive climate change that doomed them:

An analysis of rings on a stalagmite from a cave near Jerusalem reveals a drier climate in the region at a time in history when the Roman and Byzantine empires were in decline, scientists reported on Thursday.

[...] "Whether this is what weakened the Byzantines or not isn't known, but it is an interesting correlation," [University o Wisconsin geologist John] Valley said in a statement.