Lycurgus is remembered in various stories and versions, but in all of them he represents the mythical figure of a sovereign, in perennial conflict with the god Dionysus.
Homer describes the episode in which Lycurgus drove the bacchae and satyrs out of his kingdom, together with the god himself. Other contexts tell of Lycurgus who put Dionysus in chain, before being captured and sunk into hell.
In other legends, Lycurgus finds himself in contrast with Dionysus, around the themes of Dionysian rites, drunkenness and wine, nature, grapes and vine shoots.
The story of Ambrosia, one of the maenads of the Dionysian procession, is part of this tradition. It is said that, undermined by Lycurgus, she turned to the Earth for help, which turned her into a vine stump, thus enveloping Lycurgus with her branches while Dionysus and the other maenads came to her rescue. All the stories still revolve around intoxication from wine, which inebriated Lycurgus to madness, chased down by Dionysus, to the death.
