Chariot races in Constantinople were huge, with thousands turning out at the hippodrome to cheer on their favorites. Big bets were placed and there was a huge rivalry, not just about sports, but also about political affiliations, between the two main teams, the Blues and the Greens. Thanks for putting us on the Greens, Thought Bubble. That rivalry was so heated that riots often broke out between them, and in one such riot, an estimated 30,000 people were killed. Thanks, Thought Bubble. But perhaps the most consistently Roman aspect of Byzantine society was that they followed Roman law. The Romans always prided themselves on being ruled by laws, not by men, and even though that wasn't actually the case after the 2nd century BCE, there's no question that the Eastern Roman Empire's codification of Roman laws was one of its great achievements.