在西方人的眼中，世界十大古都是哪些城市呢？报道称，国外评选出的这十座城市中，有的可能已经位于废墟之下，但在当年辉煌之时，这些名城的确在世界上占着举足轻重的地位。

罗马

　　1.Rome

　　It's impossible to strollthrough modern Rome and not bump intoreminders of its ancient past. The Forum, the Colosseum and the Pantheon, just to name a few, are lasting testaments to the capital of an empire once made up of 2.5 million square miles, three continents and about 100 million people. The empire reached its zenithin 117 AD, when the emperor Trajan ruled from Rome and months-long gladiator games were held to celebrate the city's glory。

　　古罗马

　　即便徜徉在现代的罗马城里，你也无法不被它的历史遗迹所震撼。古罗马广场、圆形大剧场和万神殿都是古罗马曾经风光无限的有力证据。这座曾经占地 250万平方英里的都城由3块陆地组成，人口达到1亿。公元117年罗马帝国盛极一时，罗马皇帝图拉真曾举行长达数月的格斗表演以庆祝帝国的辉煌。

　　2.Athens

　　Democracy, math, philosophy, the Olympics…what didn't come out of Athens, the ethereal capital of ancient Greece? Athens fought long and hard, in conflicts on the sea and on land, to become leader of all Aegean city-states by the early 5th century BC. It celebrated its victories by building great temples like the Parthenon, theiconicsymbol of art and architecture in ancient Greece. A plague—likely typhoid fever—contributed to the empire's fall。

　　雅典

　　民主政治、数学、哲学、奥林匹克……还有什么辉煌成就不是出自古希腊首都雅典的呢？公元前5世纪，雅典经过海洋和陆地长期艰苦的征战成为爱琴海霸主。为庆祝胜利，雅典修建了帕台农等伟大的神庙，是祭祀女神雅典娜的主要神庙。

　　3.Constantinople

　　Today it's shared by two continents as the Turkish city of Istanbul， but ancient Constantinople never once had to share the spotlightafter Rome fell from grace in the 4th century AD. From that date through the Middle Ages， Constantinople was the world's largest and richest city， becoming the center of the new Roman Empire， the ByzantineEmpire and finally the Ottoman Empire. Art and learning flourished in its universities and cathedrals， including the spectacular Hagia Sophia。

　　君士坦丁堡

　　君士坦丁堡就是现在的土耳其城市伊斯坦布尔。它曾是世界上最大最富裕的城市，曾是拜占庭帝国和后来土耳其帝国的中心。君士坦丁堡的艺术和文化教育在当时的学校和教堂相当兴盛。