The following screenshot is from the very late game, i had already accumulated more than seven stars in the Industrial Era.  And yet, the "Culture Chosen" notification visible in the image reads:

"The Phoenicians reached the Ancient Era and kept their traditions."

That makes no sense at all because when reaching the Ancient Era, you can't keep any traditions because you have no traditions before that point.  Besides, it is impossible for a human player to advance so far before the AI finishes the Neolithic - in particular as this was in a game on the second highest difficulty level "Civilisation".

From my experience, this message consistently shows the Era where the empire in question *initially* adopted the culture.  Instead, it should show the Era that the empire just reached.  So what happened here is that one AI player chose the Phonicians for the Ancient Era and then repeatedly opted for cultural transcendence, resulting in the nonsensical notification.