 The Berytus hippodrome is mentioned in the anonymous, late 4th century "Expositio totius mundi et gentium" ("A description of the world and its people") as one of the five best racing circuits in the Levant, the others being at Antioch, Laodicea, Caesarea and Tyrus.During the 6th and the 7th centuries of the Byzantine Empire, violent factional and political disturbances at circuses (such as the Nike riots in Constantinople) led to their gradual abandonment as places of costly, officially subsidised mass entertainment.The hippodrome at Berytus fell into disuse and disrepair.