Final Jeopardy: Poets of Ancient Rome (3-4-24)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/4/2024) in the category “Poets of Ancient Rome” was:
Far from Rome, this first century poet wrote, “the leader’s anger done, grant me the right to die in my native country”
Today’s Tournament of Champions contestants are: Ray Lalonde, a scenic artist from Toronto, Ontario; Melissa Klapper, a professor from Merion Station, PA; and Ike Barinholtz, a producer, writer & actor from Chicago, IL.
Round 1 Categories: Nonfiction – I Heard a Rumor – Hobbies & Pastimes – “V”acation Spots – Cocktails – Happy Hour
Melissa found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Non-Fiction” under the $600 clue on the 14th pick of the round. She was in last place with $1,600, $1,000 less than Ray’s lead. Melissa made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.
In 1513 this Florentine civil servant knocked out a handbook for rulers of his time called “Il Principe” show
Ray finished in the lead with $5,400. Ike was in second place with $4,800. Melissa was last with $3,800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: French History – Numeric Movie Titles – Lecturing You on Science – Languages – A Li’L Ballet, A Li’L Opera – 5-Syllable Words
Ike found the first Daily Double in “Numeric Movie Titles” under the $1,200 clue on the 8th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $7,600, $200 more than Melissa in second place. Ike bet it all and he was RIGHT.
Fellini felt he’d directed 7.5 films before making this 1963 gem show
Melissa found the last Daily Double in “Languages” under the $1,200 clue on the 19th pick of the round. She was in second place with $11,400 now, $2,200 less than Ike’s lead. Melissa bet $8,000 and she was RIGHT.
Hindi & this language named for a region are the 2 most spoken first languages in India show
Melissa finished in the lead with $21,400. Ike was in second place with $14,800. Ray was last with $13,800. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS OVID?
Emperor Augustus Caesar banished the poet Ovid from Rome in 8 CE for reasons that will likely be debated until kingdom come. Ovid himself wrote of 2 reasons. He was clear that one had to do with a poem deemed immoral, although it is believed that his work Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) was used as an excuse to banish him. Ovid did not write about the second reason. Whatever it was, he certainly did not wish to risk incurring more imperial wrath. He wanted to be pardoned and allowed to return to Rome.
There’s a good article on PressBooks, describing how miserable Ovid was in his exile at Tomis and how he “never ceased his pleas for forgiveness”. Augustus never pardoned Ovid and neither did his successor, Tiberius. Ovid died in Tomis in 17/18 CE.
Ray got it right. He bet $8,000 and finished with $21,800.
Ike got it right, too. He bet $13,801 and finished with $28,601.
Melissa went with Juvenal, a decent enough guess. She lost $8,201 and landed in third place with $13,199. That made Ike Barinholtz the winner and semifinalist. When Ike got his Daily Double, Ken marveled at how he had the lead against “2 great Jeopardy! champs, including a 13-game winner.” Now look at Ike: he’s setting new records as the first celebrity to participate in the Tournament of Champions. Great work!
A triple stumper from each round:
NONFICTION ($1000) This New Yorker cartoonist tackled the topic of her aging parents in “Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?”
NUMERIC MOVIE TITLES ($1600) After his character gets cancer in this 2011 film, Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets by with a little help from his friends
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Modern War”
Called the longest siege of a capital in modern history, the assault on this city lasted from 1992 to 1996 show
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I was rooting for Ike the whole game.. I thought he would ace the movie category and loved it when he got the DD in that category. I thought they would all get FJ right so yeah, that was yet another upset in this tourney
Congratulations to Ike! I love his movies (if you haven’t seen him in “Snatched”, you’ve missed out!), but I have to admit that I scoffed when I saw that he was on the same stage as Ray. Now I am fully expecting him to win!
Wow, what a game! Who’d have thought it? I mostly ignore Celebrity J! because I don’t like the way that too many of them don’t take the game seriously enough and crack one unfunny joke after another. When I did watch it years ago, Andy Richter set the bar for celebrity brilliance.
Ovid was the only Roman poet I’ve ever heard of. That narrowed it down quickly. Then briefly thought about Cicero, but he was mostly known as an orator.
Knew the $2K 5-syllable word; didn’t hurt that I saw it somewhere a few days ago, although I was familiar the noun form of it. In hindsight, the “structure of starches” and the Klymaxx title were kind of obvious.
Just a total, uninformed guess, but, I got final.
Surprised as all get out that Ike won. I predicted way back that he would get totally scorched in a first round game. How wrong I was!
I went with Cicero for FJ, and he was a writer. Anyways, I knew that wasn’t going to fly.