# You can bring one item from history to the present. What are you getting?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 2, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244 "2022-11-02T19:50:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/21 "2022-11-03T01:12:23Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> A breeding supply of silphium seeds. Except that is disqualified for being alive I guess.
Exactly what I was thinking.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/22 "2022-11-03T01:13:56Z")
What is the definition of alive? Could I bring back dinosaur tissue samples? Eggs and sperm?
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/23 "2022-11-03T01:25:46Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> A breeding supply of silphium seeds. Except that is disqualified for being alive I guess.
That was my thought too.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/24 "2022-11-03T01:48:25Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> For non-believers, I’m heading to the library in Alexandria (before it burned) and grabbing as many scrolls that I could carry on philosophy, mathematics and astronomy.
I believe the rule is “one item”.
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### Author:  [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/25 "2022-11-03T02:00:11Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> What is the definition of alive? Could I bring back dinosaur tissue samples? Eggs and sperm?
I was originally thinking of man made things but if you want to blow your wad on sperm, knock yourself out.
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/26 "2022-11-03T02:37:44Z")
The copy of _Love’s Labour’s Won_ listed in a bookseller’s inventory in 1603. Worst-case scenario, it’s an alternate title for _Much Ado About Nothing_ or some other play we already have, but at least we’ll _know_.
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/27 "2022-11-03T12:32:13Z")
Venus di Milo’s arms?
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/28 "2022-11-03T12:50:37Z")
First thing I thought of in reading the OP.
BTW: Welcome to the Dope.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/29 "2022-11-03T13:25:15Z")
> **[The Painter on the Road to Tarascon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painter_on_the_Road_to_Tarascon)**
>
> The Painter on the Road to Tarascon is a painting by Vincent van Gogh that is believed to have been destroyed during the Second World War. It depicts the artist on his way to work, and it is thought to be the first self-portrait that van Gogh painted during his time in Arles. The work has influenced numerous modern artists, serving as an especially important inspiration to Francis Bacon.
or maybe the [Honjō Masamune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masamune#Honj%C5%8D_Masamune)
Or the Peking Man skull
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/30 "2022-11-03T13:29:01Z")
I think I’d like to be given the run of the Library of Alexandria and choose something from there. Not sure what (because we don’t know everything that is there)
Regards…Derek
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/31 "2022-11-03T13:35:40Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> Jesus’ semen
Ewww . . . and I thought his bloody cross was out there! But his cross may contain other bodily fluids that may be of interest to science. Perhaps we can tell what his last meal consisted of if he shat himself at the end.
There, I tried to one up you, but can’t quite rise to the level of Jesus semen. That’s just sick. Kudos to you!
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/32 "2022-11-03T13:53:04Z")
The recipe for Greek Fire.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/33 "2022-11-03T15:02:21Z")
Any Roman novel.
We only have two surviving Roman Novels, out of tens of thousands.
The rest were destroyed, in the Dark Ages.
> **[Roman Novel](https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0008.xml)**
>
> "Roman Novel" published on by null.
> **[Satyricon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyricon)**
>
> The Satyricon, Satyricon liber (The Book of Satyrlike Adventures), or Satyrica, is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petronius. The Satyricon is an example of Menippean satire, which is different from the formal verse satire of Juvenal or Horace. The work contains a mixture of prose and verse (commonly known as prosimetrum); serious and comic elements; and erotic and decadent passages. As wit Th...
> **[The Golden Ass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass)**
>
> The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which Augustine of Hippo referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus), is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety.
> The protagonist of the novel is Lucius. At the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from Madaurus, the hometown of Apuleius himself. The plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity (curiositas) and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally t...
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/34 "2022-11-03T15:02:33Z")
At last we know the real reason the tomb was empty on the third day:
Time-traveling forensic pathologists stole the body!
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/35 "2022-11-03T15:21:35Z")
Kandinsky’s **Composition I** before it was destroyed in a WWII air raid.
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### Author:  [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/36 "2022-11-03T19:29:40Z")
The Nixon tape shortly after its recorded and before the 18 1/2 minutes got erased. I was thinking maybe the translator’s notes of [Trump’s meeting with Putin](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/interpreter-marina-gross-notes-trumps-putin-meeting/story?id=60374126) before Trump seized them, but its not clear whether they actually contained details of what was discussed.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/37 "2022-11-03T19:45:35Z")
The Antikythera mechanism.
I mean, I know people have more or less figured out what it was for, and what it might have looked like, more or less and there have been some amazing reconstructions, but I want to see the original, in its original condition (with all of the accessories we don’t know about, if there are any)
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/38 "2022-11-03T20:26:38Z")
Dead 30 year old Hitler?
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/39 "2022-11-03T21:53:14Z")
Something like two-thirds of J.S. Bach’s compositions were discarded or burned in the first few decades after he died, as I recall, so I’d want to go back and return with at least one of those.
Ooo, or the suitcase full of Hemingway’s early stories, lost forever by his wife in the Gare de Lyon train station in Dec. 1922. (Joe Haldeman wrote a great novel about the incident, _The Hemingway Hoax_).
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/40 "2022-11-03T22:23:43Z")
The recipe for Roman concrete.
(Especially if I can make a stop along about 1850 to get the recipe into the right hands.)
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