It is pretty standard among scholars to understand the four beasts from the sea (Dan 7) in the following way:
lion with eagle wings - Babylonian Empire
bear with three ribs in its mouth - Median Empire
leopard with wings and 4 heads - Persia
beast with iron teeth and 10 horns - Hellenistic kingdom of Alexander the Great. The 11th horn that springs up is taken by most modern commentators to be Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 BC).
As I said, this is considered pretty standard, but in case you're curious I looked it up again just to be sure in the HarperCollins Bible Commentary, Revised Edition.
In case you or someone else is wondering, early Jewish and Christian interpreters read the sequence in this way: Babylon, Persia, Hellenistic, and then Rome. This view is reflected in Revelation and in II Esdras. This view was also endorsed by Jerome in his arguments against the philosopher Porphyry who's views were as listed above (the modern commentator's list).
The reason modern commentators resist the second list of the early Christians is that it undermines the approach of the Biblical prophetic writers: to interpret the world around them at that time. The Roman interpretation comes from a later community of readers for whom the world looked different. As a historical note, the English Puritans re-interpreted the 11th horn as King Charles I!
