[448]. Tafferner, chaplain to the Embassy sent by the Emperor Leopold I. to the Ottoman Court (Cæsarea Legatio quam, mandante Augustissimo Rom. Imperatore Leopoldi I. ad Portam Ottomanicam, suscepit, perficitque Excellentissimus Dominus Walterus Comes de Leslie, 1688), gives in his account of the mission (pp. 92, 93) the following description of the palace in his day:—“Præteriri non potuit quin inviseretur aula magni Constantini: Regia hæc ad Occidentem mœnibus adhæret; nobilia sublimibus operibus instructissimo olim colle locata: tribus substructionibus moles assurrexerat; altius nullum in tota urbe domicilium. Palatij coronis superstes marmore inciso elaborata tectum fulcit, ventis et imbribus pervium. Vastæ et eminentes præter sacræ antiquitatis ædilitatem è pario lapide fenestræ liquidò demonstrant, cujus palatij ornamenta fuerint, cujus aulæ etiamnum ruinæ sint. Propylæum decem columnæ magnitudinis et artificij dignitate conspicuæ sustinent: ejus in angulo desolatus, et ruderibus scatens puteus mœret. Pergula è centro prominens universæ urbis conspectum explicat. Columnis constat auro passim illitis, cujus radios color viridis extiamnum animat. Grandiora lapidum fragmenta, cum primis fabricæ ornamentis, ac fulcris cæteris in Moschèas translata sunt: sola tantæ molis vestigia, atque ex ungue cadaver nunc restat. Muro extimo meridiem versùs insertum parieti visitur Oratoriolum hominibus recipiendis sex opportunum: Angustia loci persuadet privatæ illud pietati Constantini sacrum fuisse. Squallet turpiter hæc Imperatorij operis majestas nunc inter arbusta, atque hederas et sive cœli injurias, sive immanitatem barbarorum, sive Christianorum incuriam accuses, non absimilem cum tempore rebus cæteris, utcunque floreant, internecionem minatur.”
[449]. Paspates, p. 19.
[450]. Dr. Mordtmann was the first to prove this. See below, p. [122].
[451]. The Sixth Hill sends three spurs towards the Golden Horn, which may be distinguished as the eastern, middle, and western.
[452]. This is the view of Dr. Paspates, pp. 2, 3, 92.
[453]. Procopius (De Æd., i. c. 3), speaking of the Church of Blachernæ, describes it as situated πρὸ τοῦ περιβόλου, ἐν χώρῳ καλουμένῳ Βλαχέρναις. Cf. Paschal Chron., p. 726.
[454]. This is the view of Dr. Mordtmann, p. 11.
[455]. Previous to the erection of Manuel’s Wall, the Moat may have continued further north, protecting the wall along the western side of the spur.
[456]. Cf. Paspates, pp. 92-99, regarding the remains of the walls around the spur, the area they enclose, and their character. According to him, the wall on the eastern side of the spur measures m. 157.81 in length, and is in some parts m. 13-14 high; the wall along the northern side of the spur is m. 180.90 long, and m. 13-14 high; the wall on the western side of the spur is m. 35 long, and as high as the adjoining walls of the city.
[457]. Paschal Chron., 724, τὸ τεῖχος Βλαχερνῶν. This was before the erection of the Wall of Heraclius.