thumb|upright=1.2|The abduction of Chrysippus by Laius on an Apulian red-figure hydria, 320-310 BC, Archaeological Museum of Fiesole.
In Greek mythology, Chrysippus (; ) was a divine hero of Elis in the Peloponnesus peninsula (southern Greece), sometimes referred to as Chrysippus of Pisa. He is traditionally the son of Pelops by a nymph, born out of wedlock.
Chrysippus is notable for his abduction by Laius, prince of Thebes who was warmly received at Pisa and Pelops' court but became infatuated with Chrysippus due to his good looks. Laius' actions would result in Pelops' terrible curse being cast over him and his descendants. Chrysippus' life was eventually cut short by his jealous half-brothers Atreus and Thyestes who murdered him in cold blood.
Family
Chrysippus was the bastard son of Pelops, king of Pisa in the western Peloponnesus, and the nymph Axioche or Danais. In Hellanicus however he was a legitimate son from a previous marriage instead. He was half-brother to Atreus, Thyestes, Pittheus, Dias, Cynosurus, Corinthus, Hippalmus (or Hippalcimus), Hipassus, Cleon, Argeius, Alcathous, Aelius, Dimoetes, Troezen, Nicippe, Astydameia, and Lysidice. According to Pseudo-Plutarch, of all his children Pelops loved Chrysippus best. Other ones named as Chrysippus' kidnapper include Zeus, and even Theseus. Laius was credited as the first man to introduce the love of nobleborn boys; this was supposedly the reason why the Thebans considered it a good thing to love the handsome, apparently not discouraged by Laius and Oedipus' fates.
thumb|275px|Chrysippus is carried off by Laius, Apulian red-figure bell-krater 350-340 BC, kept in Altes Museum, Berlin.
In one version Chrysippus' father Pelops, following his son's abduction, cursed Laius to be killed by one of his own children. Pelops also waged a war against Laius in order to get his son back. In a different one Chrysippus' half-brothers Atreus and Thyestes caught Laius and retrieved Chrysippus, but Laius excused himself saying he had acted out of love so Pelops pardoned him. A rare version, preserved in scholia and ancient art, bypasses the curse of Pelops entirely; from what can be extracted, the exposed infant Oedipus was adopted not by Polybus and Merope but Hippodamia and Pelops. Laius then abducted Oedipus' assumed brother Chrysippus, causing Oedipus to kill Laius. Another scholion suggests Oedipus also desired Chrysippus, and fought his father over their common desire.
Chrysippus' violation by Laius might have been the direct cause behind the Thebans' woes in the lost epic Oedipodea (the ancient poem that recounted the story of Oedipus), as far as it can be reconstructed based on other authors' testimonies. Hera, as the goddess of marriage, was enraged at Laius and his unlawful, contrary to traditional marriage, actions, and sent the terrible Sphinx to attack the Thebans in revenge for not punishing the impious Laius, while Oedipus' defeat of her did little to appease the goddess. The theory is far from certain, and several other transgressions could have motivated Hera.
Envious brothers
Chrysippus' death had many other variations. Hellanicus of Lesbos and Thucydides for example wrote that Chrysippus was murdered out of jealousy by Atreus and Thyestes, who cast him into a well. They usually act on their mother Hippodamia's suggestion, envious as she was of Pelops' love for Chrysippus and afraid that he was going to leave his kingdom to the boy. In one author, after Chrysippus' retrieval from Laius Hippodamia took matters in her own hands when her sons refused to involve themselves, and after stealing the sleeping Laius' sword, she thrust it into Chrysippus' belly and left it there so that suspicion would fall upon Laius. Chrysippus however lived just long enough to reveal the truth with his dying breath. or she withdrew to Midea in the Argolid, far away from Elis and Pelops. He also exiled his sons, and cursed them to have their descendants cause each other's perish, an anathema that came to be known as the curse of the Atreidae.
The death of Chrysippus is sometimes seen as springing from the curse that Myrtilus placed on Pelops for his betrayal, as many years before Pelops had thrown him off a cliff after he helped Pelops win the chariot race that landed him Hippodamia as a wife.
In ancient Greek drama
It is known that Athenian tragedian Euripides wrote a play called Chrysippus, which is now lost with few details preserved, but it is the earliest known account of Chrysippus' tale. Its plot covered Laius and the boy's death, with a theme centered around the relations between men and boys, specifically Laius' failure to control his desire, the abduction and Chrysippus' death. Arguments have been proposed both for and against Euripides being the one who invented the story in the first place.
Presumably, it opened with the arrival of Laius at Pisa, his first encounter with Chrysippus and his inner struggle with his desires; surviving fragments suggest Chrysippus' rejection of him, which motivated Laius' abduction, perhaps under the pretext of teaching Chrysippus chariot-driving. The play probably ended with an eye-witness reporting the events to Pelops, the return of Chrysippus' body, and Pelops' curse. An ancient hypothesis to Euripides' play The Phoenician Women supports this structure. The fragment where Laius blames nature for his actions could have been addressed to a confidant or even Chrysippus himself, during the failed seduction or even the abduction. It is not beyond likelihood that an actual chariot was brought on stage, given that Strattis' lost comedy Chrysippus, modelled on Euripides, did feature a chariot, but it is also just as likely that a messenger described the events.
It is not so clear whether the play condemned the pederasty as is, or just Laius' use of force and abuse of sacred hospitality; Hubbard notes that the first pederast being also the first to abduct and violently rape a child, who ended up killing himself over the shame, means that the play likely was a middle-class reaction to the elite's pederastic customs.