# Umpteenth ID this science fiction story thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138 "2003-06-29T10:28:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/1 "2003-06-29T10:28:24Z")
Some time ago I read a science fiction novel dealing with time travel to the time of Jesus, in order to shoot video pictures of the Nazarene. One of the novel’s protagonists is reported to remember having read an unnamed SF story that ends with the discovery that virtually everybody who was present at the Crucifixion - soldiers, scribes, spectators and whatnot - was a time travelling tourist from a future period who wanted to witness the event. I found this idea interesting, but the writer does not give any details about author, title or anything of that story. Has someone heard of that plot twist? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/2 "2003-06-29T12:39:49Z")
I wonder if maybe it was another story by the same writer? That would explain why the author wasn’t named. Or maybe a fictional story, i.e. one that that hadn’t been written (yet) or published. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/3 "2003-06-29T13:18:50Z")
Arthur C Clarke’s _The Light Of Other Days_ has a similar incident. But, it involves viewing through a space/time wormhole, not actually being there. The life of Jesus is chronicalled but the actual crucifixtion is hard to see because of all the distortion from multiple viewers. The book is from 2000 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/4 "2003-06-29T13:24:48Z")
Actually what **Schnitte** said rang a bell with me. It could, however, be that I read the same novel instead of the putative original story. And no, I don’t recall specifics, unfortunately. Haven’t read SF for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/5 "2003-06-29T13:55:00Z")
Just for the records, the novel I read is by a German SF writer, Andreas Eschbach. The title was _The Jesus Video_, I don’t know if there are translations of it (after a visit at [amazon.com](http://amazon.com), I guess there aren’t). ---
**Author:** ![WPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d26b3c/32.png) [@WPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WPL)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/6 "2003-06-29T13:55:07Z")
Gary Kilworth’s “Let’s go to Golgotha”? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/7 "2003-06-29T18:26:43Z")
That sounds familiar to me, too, and I wanted to suggest Orson Scott Card’s _Pastwatch_, but I know that’s not it. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/8 "2003-06-29T22:18:18Z")
Wasn’t there a scene like that in “UP THE LINE” by Robert Silverberg? I seem to remember a scene where some famous personage trips over something on his way to (what would become) an historic occasion, and as he trips he scolds the servants for not keeping the way clear. The protagonist of the story, watching and listening via audio and video “bugs”, wonders if a time will come when there are so many time travelers listening in that the words spoken in relative privacy will echo out across the public square, carried by thousands of tiny personal listening devices. Or am I thinking of some other story? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/umpteenth-id-this-science-fiction-story-thread/185138/9 "2003-06-29T23:56:50Z")
Silverberg’s book certainly talks about this phenomenom, but I don’t think that any of it actually takes place at the Crucifixion. But everybody and his sister has done time travel to 30 C.E. In addition to those already mentioned, I can add Michael Moorcock’s _Behold the Man_; John Kessel’s _Corrupting Dr. Nice_; and Gore Vidal’s _Live from Golgotha_ just among novels.