"Rosebud" Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Kratisto"

Date of death: June 11, 323 BCE (Babylon)

King of Macedon and one of history's greatest military commanders, Alexander conquered an empire stretching from Greece and Egypt to the borders of India before his death at just thirty-two. According to a famous tradition, when his generals asked who should inherit his empire, he replied κρατίστῳ (kratístōi), usually translated as "to the strongest."

The phrase became legendary because Alexander's death without a clear successor triggered the Wars of the Diadochi, in which his generals divided the empire among themselves. Historically, however, the story is disputed. Ancient sources disagree about Alexander's final hours, and some accounts suggest he had already lost the ability to speak. The phrase survives in later historical traditions but cannot be regarded as certain.

Answer: "Felice"

Date of death: April 6, 1520

Raphael was one of the giants of the Italian Renaissance, celebrated for masterpieces such as "The School of Athens" and for helping define the artistic ideals of his age. He died in Rome on what was traditionally believed to be his thirty-seventh birthday.

A longstanding anecdote gives his final word as "Felice" ("happy," "fortunate," or possibly a personal name). His death was regarded as a cultural catastrophe; contemporaries viewed him as the greatest painter of his generation. The attribution is traditional rather than firmly documented. Like many Renaissance deathbed stories, it survives through later biographical retellings rather than a verbatim eyewitness transcript.

Answer: "iJesú!"

Date of death: June 26, 1541

The conqueror of the Inca Empire was assassinated in Lima by supporters of Diego de Almagro. Mortally wounded by multiple stab wounds, Pizarro reportedly invoked Christ with the exclamation"iJesú!" or "iJesús!"

Accounts also describe him tracing a cross in his own blood before dying. While some details may have been embellished by chroniclers, the general circumstances of a dying appeal to Jesus are deeply embedded in the contemporary tradition surrounding his assassination.

Answer: "Ja!"

Date of death: February 18, 1546

Martin Luther was the German theologian, reformer, and former Augustinian monk whose challenge to Church practices in 1517 helped launch the Protestant Reformation. His writings, preaching, and German translation of the Bible helped shape Protestant Christianity throughout northern Europe.

Among all the entries on this list, Luther's may be one of the best documented. As he lay dying in Eisleben, witnesses asked whether he remained steadfast in the doctrines he had preached and written. Luther answered, "Ja."

The response was recorded by those present and has long been regarded as his final affirmation of the Protestant Reformation.

Answer: "Genug"

Date of death: February 12, 1804

Immanuel Kant was the Prussian philosopher whose works, especially "Critique of Pure Reason," transformed modern philosophy. His writings on reason, morality, and the limits of human knowledge remain foundational texts of modern philosophy.

Kant's final illness left him increasingly frail. After accepting a small amount of wine and expressing thanks to those around him, he reportedly uttered, "Genug."

The word means "Enough." It is one of the best-known and most widely accepted deathbed utterances in intellectual history. The story comes from people present during Kant's final hours and appears consistently across major biographies.

Answer: "Beautiful"

Date of death: June 29, 1861

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most celebrated poets of the Victorian era, admired for works such as "Sonnets from the Portuguese" and for her engagement with social and political issues. Her literary partnership and romance with fellow poet Robert Browning became one of the most famous marriages in English literary history.

While dying in Florence, Barrett Browning's husband reportedly asked how she felt. Her reply was, "Beautiful."

Shortly afterward, she lost consciousness and died. The story survives through family recollection and has often been viewed as fitting her optimistic, spiritual outlook.

Answer: "Stopped"

Date of death: December 13, 1863

Joseph Henry Green was a distinguished English surgeon, anatomist, and medical educator who served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons. A close associate of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he later edited and published several of the philosopher's works.

The surgeon and philosopher Green is said to have been monitoring his own pulse as death approached. Feeling for the beat, he calmly announced, "Stopped."

The anecdote became famous because it perfectly matched Green's scientific temperament. Though frequently repeated, it derives from near-contemporary recollections rather than a formal transcript.

Answer: "Useless"

Date of death: April 26, 1865

John Wilkes Booth was a well-known American stage actor and a passionate Confederate sympathizer during the American Civil War. He entered history through the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, one of the most consequential political murders in American history.

Twelve days later, Booth was cornered in a Virginia tobacco barn and shot. Paralyzed and dying, he reportedly looked at his hands and whispered, "Useless, useless."

The statement is attested by witnesses present at the scene, although accounts vary slightly in wording. The remark is generally interpreted as a realization that his hands no longer obeyed him.

Answer: "Water"

Date of death: July 23, 1885

Ulysses S. Grant rose from humble beginnings to become the leading Union general of the American Civil War and later the eighteenth President of the United States. Remembered for securing Union victory and supporting Reconstruction, he remains a central figure in American history.

The former president spent his final months enduring severe throat cancer while racing to complete his memoirs. Speaking was extremely painful. Several accounts report that one of his final intelligible words was, "Water."

The request reflected both the disease's effects and the physical discomfort of his final days.

Answer: "Fog"

Date of death: May 15, 1886

Emily Dickinson was an American poet whose highly original verse explored themes of death, nature, faith, and human consciousness. Although she published little during her lifetime and lived much of her life in relative seclusion, she is now regarded as one of the most important poets in the English language.

Dickinson spent her final years in declining health at Amherst. Family tradition holds that shortly before slipping into unconsciousness she whispered, "Fog."

The attribution is difficult to verify and rests primarily on family recollections. Nevertheless, the image has endured because it seems uncannily consistent with the ambiguity and metaphysical atmosphere of her poetry.

Answer: "Bertie"

Date of death: January 22, 1901

Queen Victoria reigned over the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901, giving her name to an era marked by industrial growth, imperial expansion, and major social change. By the end of her reign she had become a symbol of stability and continuity, and her descendants occupied royal thrones across much of Europe.

As Victoria lay dying at Osborne House, members of her family gathered around her. Tradition holds that her final word was, "Bertie."

"Bertie" was the family nickname of her eldest son, the future Edward VII. Though not as firmly documented as Luther's or Kant's final word, the story has long been accepted in royal biographical literature.

Answer: "Mozart"

Date of death: May 18, 1911.

Gustav Mahler was an Austrian composer and conductor whose symphonies expanded the emotional and structural boundaries of orchestral music. Though better known during his lifetime as a conductor, he is now remembered primarily for his symphonies, which rank among the largest and most ambitious works in the orchestral repertoire.

Mahler died in Vienna from complications of bacterial endocarditis. Accounts of his final hours describe him making conducting motions from his bed as though leading an invisible orchestra. One widely repeated tradition reports his final recognizable word as, "Mozart."

The story is plausible and thematically fitting, though not documented with the certainty of Kant's "Genug." It survives primarily through memoirs and recollections from those present.

Answer: "Now"

Date of death: February 28, 1916.

Henry James was an American-born novelist, critic, and master stylist whose works examined psychology, culture, and the contrasts between Europe and America. Novels such as "The Portrait of a Lady," "The Wings of the Dove," and "The Ambassadors" secured his place among the major literary figures of the modern era.

James suffered a series of strokes beginning in December of 1915 and spent his final weeks drifting between lucidity and delirium. His illness was closely observed by his secretary, Theodora Bosanquet, family members, and physicians.

The reported final word "Now" appears in later literary biographical tradition. Unlike Luther's "Ja" or Booth's "Useless," the exact context of the utterance is poorly preserved. Therefore, while the attribution is longstanding, its evidentiary basis is relatively weak.

Answer: "Dictionary"

Date of death: February 27, 1930.

Joseph Wright was an English philologist and linguist best known for compiling the monumental "English Dialect Dictionary," a work that documented thousands of regional English words and expressions. Rising from a modest background with limited formal education, he became one of Britain's foremost scholars of language.

Over his lifetime, Wright devoted decades to assembling and editing his great dictionary. Tradition holds that his final word was, appropriately, "Dictionary."

The anecdote reflects a lifetime spent documenting English regional speech. Although the story is frequently repeated, it rests more on biographical tradition than on a detailed eyewitness account.

Answer: "Valerie"

Date of death: January 4, 1965

Poet, critic, and dramatist T. S. Eliot helped shape literary modernism through works such as "The Waste Land," "Four Quartets," and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

In his later years, Eliot found great happiness in his marriage to Valerie Fletcher Eliot, whom he married in 1957. Accounts from those close to him report that one of his final words was simply, "Valerie."

The story comes from those present during Eliot's final illness. Whether literally his last word or simply among his final intelligible utterances, it endures because of its connection to the person closest to him in his final years.