Amors Leikir: The Reception of Ovid and the Poetics of Love Games in Late Medieval Iceland

This article explores the reception of Ovid’s amatory poetics in late medieval Icelandic romances, focusing on the concept of iocus amoris (“love games”). Through a close reading of Sigurðar saga þögla, it argues that Icelandic authors engaged creatively—and at times parodically — with Ovidian motifs mediated through French and Anglo-Norman courtly literature. The study proposes that direct cultural contacts with England played a crucial role in shaping Iceland’s distinctive adaptation of courtly love.