The story of Atalanta isn’t a very common one, so I’ll spare the beginning (quite interesting, though. I advise checking it out.) She was a woman in Ancient Greek mythology, a regular huntress. The part of her story that stood out to me the most, though, is the end. At the end, her and her husband are turned into lions.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

Laying it straight her—the Lioden lions are decendants of Atalanta and her husband. Think about it—two ex-human lions, extremely intelligent and strong, the ancestors of lions who establish trade deals and beat up literal demons from actual hell? Makes sense to me.

This was just some dumb thing I came up with browsing Wikipedia, in conclusion, yes.