Final Jeopardy: Ancient Drama (8-6-24)
TODAY’S JEOPARDY! RERUN: Semifinal #1 of the 2024 Tournament of Champions that originally aired on 3/7/2024
The Final Jeopardy question in the category “Ancient Drama” was:
From the 470s B.C., Aeschylus earliest surviving work has this title; he’d fought them repeatedly in the preceding years
Today is the first semifinal in the Tournament of Champions, featuring: Jared Watson, a quality control specialist from Greenville, TX; Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, WI; and Ike Barinholtz, a producer, writer & actor from Chicago, IL.
Round 1 Categories: Getting Historical – Books by Characters – Sports Mascot History – Unusual Nicknames – The Material World – Before & After
Jared found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Material World” under the $600 clue on the 8th pick of the round. He was in second place with $1,800, $1,200 less than Ben’s lead. Jared bet it all and he was RIGHT.
This hard black wood from trees of the diospyros genus shares its name with a magazine founded in 1945 show
Jared finished in the lead with $7,400. Ben was in second place with $6,800. Ike was last with $1,600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Gitalong, Old Paint – Ends in Double Letters – Boy Genius – Bridgers – Baker – The Tallest One
Ben found the first Daily Double in “Boy Genius” under the $1,600 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $7,600, $200 more than Jared in second place. Ben bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
Losing his brother Giulio in 1915, he buried his grief in math & physics & soon wowed the admissions panel at college in Pisa show
2 clues later, Jared found the last Daily Double in “Ends in Double Letters” under the $1,600 clue. He was in second place with $8,600 now, $3,000 less than Ben’s lead. Jared bet it all and guessed settee. That was WRONG.
Originally a stick or spindle used in spinning, it also came to mean women’s work or the female side of a family show
Ben finished in the lead with $15,200. Ike was in second place with $10,400. Jared was last with $3,600. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS “THE PERSIANS”?
The Persians (472 BCE) is the first surviving work of Aeschylus, believed to be the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre. Aeschylus, aka the father of Greek tragedy, wrote about the Battle of Salamis in “The Persians”. It is said to be the second part of a trilogy. The other two parts are lost, but the first part was about the Battle of Marathon in the Greco-Persian Wars. Aeschuylus and his brother both fought the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. His brother perished but Aeschuylus survived and fought at Salamis. “The Persians” is also believed to be the first Western play with a dream sequence involving Darius the Great, Xerxes’ dead father. He blames his son for the Persians’ defeat, claiming Xerxes angered the gods by trying to build a bridge over the Hellespont.
It seems more than a little crazy that only 7 of Aeschylus’ works have survived, when he is said to have written over 80 plays. He was no spring chicken when he produced “The Persians”, having been actively writing for at least two decades. The other surviving tragedies attributed to Aeschuylus are: Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliants, the trilogy known as The Oresteia (the three tragedies Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides), and (although disputed) Prometheus Bound.
Jared promoted the online test. He bet nothing so he finished with $3,600.
Ike went with the Spartans. He bet and lost his whole $10,400. (Why, Ike, why?)
Ben thought it was the censors. He lost $5,601 but won the game with the remaining $9,599. We’ll be seeing Ben Chan in the finals.
A triple stumper from each round:
GETTING HISTORICAL ($800) Calling himself an admiral in a bit of self-promotion, in 1853 he sailed 4 warships into the harbor of Uraga & refused to leave
GITALONG, OLD PAINT ($1200) This painter who was totally for the birds gave us the oil-on-canvas “Washington Sea Eagle” around 1839
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “European Cities”
Pizzo means protection money; the Addio Pizzo movement was founded in this city in 2004 show
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Regarding the FJ, for plays as ancient as those, , it would only be remarkable if any of those had survived.