Atalanta and Hippomenes were turned into lions by Cybele as punishment after having sex in one of her temples they entered to take a rest during their journey to Hippomenes ' home (the Greeks believed that lions could not mate with other lions, but only with leopards). Ovid and Servius suggest that Hippomenes forgot to pay the tribute to Aphrodite he had promised for helping him, and consequently, during the two 's stay at Cybele 's temple, Aphrodite caused them to have sex after going mad with lust, knowing that this would offend Cybele, and this indeed resulted in Cybele (or Zeus according to Hyginus) transforming them into lions. Thereafter they drew Cybele 's chariot, which Servius equates with the Earth itself.
why were atalanta and her husband turned into lions
by Cybele as punishment after having sex in one of her temples