Final Jeopardy: The Ancients Speak (2-19-25)

The Final Jeopardy question (2/19/2025) in the category “The Ancients Speak” was:

He wrote, “I must make the founder of lovely & famous Athens the counterpart…To the father of…glorious Rome”

The players in QF#3 of the 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament are: 2023 CWC winner Emily Sands, a benefits consultant from Chanhassen, MN; 1994 ToC winner Rachael Schwartz, a scientist from Berkeley, CA; and 11x champ Jonathan Fisher, an actor orig. from Gables, FL.

Round 1 Categories: Authors Not Authoring – Let’s Play Sports – Classical Music – Liquor is Quicker – Lack of Energy – I’m “Dragon” Today

Rachael found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “I’m ‘Dragon’ Today” under the $600 clue on the 4th pick of the round. She was the only one on the board with $1,200, everybody else was in the red. Rachael bet $1,000 and she was RIGHT.

This book’s title character is “Armansky’s star researcher…a pale, anorexic young woman who had hair as short as a fuse” show

WHAT IS “THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO”?

Rachael finished in the lead with $3,200. Jonathan was second with $2,800 and Emily was last with $2,200. All clues were shown.

Round 2 Categories: The ABCs of Architecture – Broadway – Receding Heir-Lines – Tough Vocab – The Elements – Island Mountains

Emily found the first Daily Double in “The Elements” under the $1,600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. She was in last place with $2,200, $1,000 less than Rachael’s lead. Emily bet it all and she was RIGHT.

The Og of elements is oganesson– though we don’t know for sure it’s a gas, it’s part of Group 18, this septet show

WHAT ARE THE NOBLE GASES?

Jonathan found the last Daily Double in “Receding Heir-Lines” under the $1,200 clue on the 11th pick of the round. He was in last place with $4,400, $2,400 less than Emily’s lead. Jonathan bet $2,400 and he was RIGHT.

This heir, a valuable pawn after his mom & dad got the guillotine in 1793, was determined to have died in a prison show

WHO IS LOUIE THE 17th?

Emily finished in the lead with $14,000. Jonathan was second with $12,400 and Rachael was last with $6,000. All clues were shown.

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NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS PLUTARCH?

Plutarch was a Greco-Roman philosopher and writer. In his “Parallel Lives”, he set out to compare the noble Greek and Romans and what made them tick. As he begins to compare Greece’s Theseus with Rome’s Romulus, he says, “it seemed to me that I must make the founder of lovely and famous Athens the counterpart and parallel to the father of invincible and glorious Rome.”

Here’s a link to a video that outlines what Plutarch saw as the good and bad points of Theseus and Romulus. If you would prefer to read parts of “Parallel Lives” about other illustrious Greeks and Romans, there’s a transcription here, typed out by Bill Thayer with a Who’s Who index.

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Rachael thought it was Herodotus. She lost $5,000 and finished with $1,000.

Jonathan went with Virgil. That cost him $399 and left him with $12,001.

Emily had no response but she didn’t risk a single drachma. She won the semifinal spot by standing pat on $14,000.

2 triple stumpers from AUTHORS NOT AUTHORING:

($200) This Arthur, er, author, was knighted for his work in & about the Boer War

($1000) In his early 20s this poet who wrote “A Season in Hell” wanted a season abroad; he quit poetry & traveled the world

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “PEOPLE & PLACES”

Thought to descend from people of Southeast Asia, the Chamorro make up this U.S. territory’s largest ethnic group show

WHAT IS GUAM?

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