(Χρύσιππος), the name of several physicians, who have been frequently confounded together, and whom it is sometimes difficult to distinguish with certainty.
1. Of Cnidos, has sometimes been confounded with the celebrated Stoic philosopher of the same name, who, however, lived about a century later. He was the son of Erineus (D. L. 8.89), and must have lived in the fourth century B. C., as he was a contemporary of Praxagoras (Cels. De Med. Praef. lib. i. p. 5; Plin. Nat. 26.6), a pupil of Eudoxus of Cnidos and Philistion (Diog. Laert. l.c.), father of Chrysippus the physician to Ptolemy Soter (id. 7.186), and tutor to Erasistratus (id. l.c. ; Plin. Nat. 29.3; Galen, De Ven. Sect. adv Erasistr. 100.7, vol. xi. p. 171), Aristogenes (id. De Ven. sect. adv. Erasistr. Rom. Deg. 100.2, et De Cur. Rat. per Ven. Sect. 100.2, vol. xi. pp. 197, 252), Medius (id. ibid.), and Metrodorus. (Sext. Empir. cont. Mathem. 1.12, p. 271, ed. Fabric.) He accompanied his tutor Eudoxus into Egypt (D. L. 8.87), but nothing more is known of the events of his life. He wrote several works, which are not now extant, and Galen says (De Vcn. Sect. adv. Ertisislr. Rom. Deg. 100.5, vol. xi. p. 221), that even in his time they were in danger of being lost. Several of his medical opinions are, however, preserved by Galen, by whom he is frequently quoted and referred to. (De Ven. Sect. adv. Erasistr., &c., vol. xi. pp. 149, &c., 171, &c., 197, 221, &c.)
2. The son of the preceding, was a physician to Ptolemy Soter, king of Egypt, B. C. 323-283, and was falsely accused, scourged, and put to death, but on what charge is not mentioned. (D. L. 7.186.)
3. A pupil of Erasistratus (D. L. 7.186), who must have lived therefore in the third century B. C. Some persons think he was the author of the work De Brassica, "On the Cabbage," mentioned by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 20.33) and Plinius Valerianus (De Med. 4.29), but this is quite uncertain.
4. A writer on Agriculture, Γεωρψικά, mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (7.186), and distinguished by him from the pupil of Erasistratus.
5. A follower of Asclepiades, who must therefore (if Asclepiades of Bithynia be the person meant) have lived in the first century B. C. One of his works is quoted by Caelius Aurelianus (De Morb. Chron. 4.8, p. 537), and a physician of the same name is mentioned by him, in several other passages (pp. 99, 107, 323, 376), but whether the same person be meant in each passage is uncertain.
6. A native of Cilicia, who may perhaps have been the tutor of Athenaeus (who was also born in Cilicia), as Galen calls him the great-grandfather of the sect of the Pneumatici. (De Diff. Puls. 2.10, vol. viii. p. 631.) He lived probably about the beginning of the Christian aera.