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Résumé :

Until recently, many scholars believed that the manuscript Oxon. Bodl. Laudianus graecus 35 was transcribed in Sardinia. However, the idea that it originated in Rome has now gained ground in the literature. This article likewise argues for a Roman origin for this luxury Graeco-Latin manuscript of the Acts of the Apostles, but for a reason different from those previously proposed. It suggests identifying two individuals mentioned in the last flyleaf of the manuscript (fol. 227v), Ioannes Karamallos and Loukia, with similarly named individuals found in the Liber Pontificalis. The two were linked by some form of kinship and owned landed estates which had become part of the domus culta of St. Leucius by the end of the eighth century. Ioannes Karamallos is arguably to be identified with Iohannes primus defensorum, who accompanied Pope Constantine I on his journey to the capital of the empire in 711. He was among the group of Greek-speaking ecclesiastical administrators active at the episcopal residence of the Lateran Palace, within whose cultural milieu the Laudian manuscript may have been copied during the seventh century. It is notable that there is transcribed on fol. 226v of the manuscript a redaction of the Oracle of Apollo, which recounts the conversion of a temple originally dedicated to the pagan god into a church honouring Mary. This narrative can be connected with the renewed attention to the cult of the Virgin Mary documented in Rome during the papacy of John VII (705-707).