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9. Constantinople
9.君士坦丁堡（Constantinople）
After the split of the Roman Empire into two, the city of Rome gradually lost almost all of its former glory. In 330 AD, Emperor Constantine moved the seat of power from Rome to the small town of Byzantium and then transformed it into Constantinople. The capital of the Byzantine Empire for over 1000 years, this mighty city became the wealthiest and most influential metropolis in Europe.
羅馬帝國一分為二后，羅馬城逐漸喪失昔日光環。公元330年，君士坦丁一世把王座由羅馬移到小鎮拜占庭，后來移至君士坦丁堡。拜占庭帝都有超過1000年的歷史，是歐洲最富裕，最具影響力的大城市。
It had the largest walls the continent had ever seen, the Theodosian Walls, sparing the city from many attacks across the centuries. The imposing cathedral of Hagia Sophia, built by Emperor Justinian I in 537 AD, was one of the Wonders of Late Antiquity, and the Hippodrome, where horse races were held, surpassed even the Coliseum of Rome.
帝都擁有歐洲大陸最雄偉城墻——特奧多修斯墻，幾個世紀以來成功阻擋多次進攻。雄偉的圣菲亞大教堂（由東羅馬帝國君主渣士丁尼一世于公元537年修建）是古代奇跡之一。羅馬斗獸場（可舉行賽馬）的規模甚至超過羅馬大劇院。
Situated on the strait of Bosphorus, which seperates the Mediterranean from the Black Sea and Europe from Asia, Constantinople helped, among other things, turn future European empires into world dominating forces. Not even after the fall of the Byzantines in 1453 did the city lose its power; it simply changed its name to Istanbul under the new rule
君士坦丁堡瀕臨博斯普魯斯海峽，將地中海和黑海分開，并把歐洲和亞洲隔開。后來的歐洲列強成為世界主導力量，與君士坦丁堡（當然也有其他因素）是分不開的。直到1453年，拜占庭衰落，帝都也失去了影響力。帝都更名為伊斯坦布爾，受奧斯曼土耳其人統治。
