Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

First edition, 1880
Author Lew Wallace
Country United States
Language English
Genre Historical novel
Publisher Harper & Brothers
Publication date
 November 12, 1880
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace, published by Harper & Brothers on November 12, 1880. Considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century",[1] it became a best-selling American novel, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) in sales. The book also inspired other novels with biblical settings and was adapted for the stage and motion picture productions. Ben-Hur remained at the top of the bestseller lists until the publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1936). Following the release of the 1959 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur, which was seen by tens of millions and won eleven Academy Awards in 1960, the book's sales increased and it surpassed Gone with the Wind.[2] Blessed by Pope Leo XIII, the novel was the first work of fiction to be so honored.[3] The success of the novel and its stage and film adaptations also helped it become a popular cultural icon that was used to promote numerous commercial products.

The story recounts in descriptive detail the adventures of Judah Ben-Hur, a fictional Jewish prince from Jerusalem, who is enslaved by the Romans at the beginning of the 1st century and becomes a charioteer and a Christian. Running in parallel with Judah's narrative is the unfolding story of Jesus, who comes from the same region and is a similar age.[4] The novel reflects themes of betrayal, conviction, and redemption, with a revenge plot that leads to a story of love and compassion.

Plot summary

Ben-Hur is a heroic story of a fictional hero named Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman who was falsely accused of an attempted assassination and enslaved by the Romans. He becomes a successful charioteer.[5][6] The story's revenge plot becomes a story of compassion and forgiveness.[7]

The novel is divided into eight books, or parts, each with its own subchapters. Book one opens with the story of the three biblical Magi, who arrive in Bethlehem to hear the news of Christ’s birth. Readers meet the fictional character of Judah for the first time in book two, when his childhood friend Messala, also a fictional character, returns home as an ambitious commanding officer of the Roman legions. The teen-aged boys come to realize that they have changed and hold very different views and aspirations. When a loose tile is accidentally dislodged from the roof of Judah's house during a military parade and strikes the Roman governor, knocking him from his horse, Messala falsely accuses Judah of attempted assassination. Although Judah is not guilty and receives no trial, he is sent to the Roman galleys for life; his mother and sister are imprisoned in a Roman jail, where they contract leprosy; and all the family property is confiscated. Judah first encounters Jesus, who offers him a drink of water and encouragement, as Judah is being marched to slavery aboard a galley. Their lives continue to intersect as the story unfolds.[7]

In book three Judah survives his ordeal as a galley slave through good fortune, which includes befriending and saving the commander of his ship, who later adopts him. Judah goes on to become a trained soldier and charioteer. In books four and five Judah returns home to Jerusalem to seek revenge and redemption for his family.

After witnessing the Crucifixion, Judah recognizes that Christ's life stands for a goal quite different from revenge. Judah becomes Christian, inspired by love and the talk of keys to a kingdom greater than any on earth. The novel concludes with Judah's decision to finance the Catacomb of San Calixto in Rome, where Christian martyrs could be buried and venerated.[7][8]

Characters

Major themes

Ben-Hur is the romantic story of a fictional nobleman named Judah Ben-Hur, who tries to save his family from misfortune and restore honor to the family name, while earning the love of a modest Jewess named Esther. It is also a tale of vengeance and spiritual forgiveness that includes themes of Christian redemption and God's benevolence through the compassion of strangers. A popular theme with readers during Gilded Age America, when the novel was first published, was the idea of achieving prosperity through piety. In Ben-Hur this is portrayed through Judah's rise from poverty to great wealth, the challenges he faces to his virtuous nature, and the rich rewards he receives, both materially and spiritually, for his efforts.[7]

Style

Wallace's adventure story is told from the perspective of Judah Ben-Hur.[5] On occasion, the author speaks directly to his readers.[7] Wallace understood that Christians would be skeptical of a fictional story on Christ's life, so he was careful not to offend them in his writing. Ben-Hur "maintains a respect for the underlying principles of Judaism and Christianity",[1] In his memoirs Wallace wrote:

The Christian world would not tolerate a novel with Jesus Christ its hero, and I knew it ... He should not be present as an actor in any scene of my creation. The giving a cup of water to Ben-Hur at the well near Nazareth is the only violation of this rule ... I would be religiously careful that every word He uttered should be a literal quotation from one of His sainted biographers.[1][37]

Wallace only used dialogue from the King James Bible for Jesus's words. He also created realistic scenes involving Jesus and the main fictional character of Judah, and included a detailed physical description of the Christ, which was not typical of 19th-century biblical fiction.[7] In Wallace's story, Judah "saw a face he never forgot ... the face of a boy about his own age, shaded by locks of yellowish bright chestnut hair; a face lighted by dark-blue eyes, at the time so soft, so appealing, so full of love and holy purpose, that they had all the power of command and will."[38]

The historical novel is filled with romantic and heroic action, including meticulously detailed and realistic descriptions of its landscapes and characters. Wallace strove for accuracy in his descriptions, including several memorable action scenes, the most famous of which was the chariot race at Antioch.[1] Wallace devoted four pages of the novel to a detailed description of the Antioch arena.[39] In contrast to the 1959 film adaptation of Ben-Hur, where Messala is a villain who cheats by adding spikes to the wheels of his chariot, Wallace's novel depicts Judah as the aggressive competitor who wrecks Messala's chariot from behind and leaves him to be trampled by horses.[7] Wallace's novel explains the crowd "had not seen the cunning touch of the reins by which, turning a little to the left, he caught Messala’s wheel with the iron-shod point of his axle, and crushed it".[40]

Background

By the time of Ben-Hur's publication in 1880, Wallace had already published his first novel, The Fair God; or, The Last of the 'Tzins (1873), and Commodus: An Historical Play (1876) that was never produced. He went on to publish several more novels and biographies, including The Prince of India; or, Why Constantinople Fell (1893), a biography of President Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and The Wooing of Malkatoon (1898), but Ben-Hur remained his most significant work and best-known novel.[41][42] Humanities editor Amy Lifson named Ben-Hur as the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century, while others have identified it as one of the best-selling novels of all time.[1][43] Carl Van Doren wrote that Ben-Hur was, along with Uncle Tom's Cabin, the first fiction many Americans read.[7] Wallace's original plan was to write a story of the biblical Magi as a magazine serial, which he begun in 1873, but he had changed its focus by 1874.[44] Ben-Hur begins with the story of the Magi, but the remainder of the novel connects the story of Christ with the adventures of Wallace's fictional character, Judah Ben-Hur.[5][6]

Influences

Citing one inspiration for Ben-Hur, Wallace recounted his life-changing journey and talk with Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, a well-known agnostic and public speaker, whom he met on a train when the two were bound for Indianapolis on September 19, 1876. Ingersoll invited Wallace to join him in his railroad compartment during the trip. The two men debated religious ideology, and Wallace left the discussion realizing how little he knew about Christianity. He became determined to do his own research to write about the history of Christ.[45] Wallace explained: "I was ashamed of myself, and make haste now to declare that the mortification of pride I then endured… ended in a resolution to study the whole matter, if only for the gratification there might be in having convictions of one kind or another."[1][46] It is not known for certain when Wallace decided to write a novel based on the life of Christ, but he had already written the manuscript for a magazine serial about the three Magi at least two years before his discussions with Ingersoll.[47][48] Researching and writing about Christianity helped Wallace become clear about his own ideas and beliefs. He developed the novel from his own exploration of the subject.[49]

Ben-Hur was also inspired, in part, by Wallace's love of romantic novels, including those written by Sir Walter Scott, Jane Porter,[7] and The Count of Monte Cristo (1846) by Alexandre Dumas, père. The Dumas novel was based on the memoirs of an early 19th-century French shoemaker who was unjustly imprisoned and spent the rest of his life seeking revenge.[50] Wallace could relate to the shoemaker's isolation of imprisonment. He explained in his autobiography that while he was writing Ben-Hur, "the Count of Monte Cristo in his dungeon of stone was not more lost to the world."[51]

Other writers have viewed Ben-Hur within the context of Wallace's own life. Historian Victor Davis Hanson argues that the novel drew from Wallace's experiences as a division commander during the American Civil War under General Ulysses S. Grant. Hanson compares Wallace's real-life experience in battle, battle tactics, combat leadership, and jealousies among American Civil War military commanders to those of Wallace's fictional character of Judah, whose unintentional injury to a high-ranking military commander leads to further tragedy and suffering for the Ben-Hur family. Wallace's controversial command decisions and delay in arriving on the field during the first day of the battle of Shiloh, when Grant's army sustained heavy Union casualties created a furore in the North, damaged Wallace's military reputation and drew accusations of his incompetence.[52]

John Swansburg, deputy editor of Slate, suggests the chariot race between the characters of Judah and Messala may have been based on a horserace Wallace reportedly ran, and won, against Grant sometime after the battle of Shiloh.[7] The Judah character's superior horsemanship helped him beat Messala in a chariot race that earned Judah great wealth. F. Farrand Tuttle Jr., a Wallace family friend, reported the story of the horserace between Grant and Wallace in the Denver News on February 19, 1905, but Wallace never wrote about it. The event may have been a Wallace family legend, but the novel, which includes the action-packed chariot race, made Wallace a wealthy man and established his reputation as a famous author and sought-after speaker.[7][53]

Research and writing

Lew Wallace, Union general, c. 1862–1865

Determined to make the novel historically accurate, Wallace did extensive research on the Middle East that related to the time period covered in his novel, but he did not travel to Rome or the Holy Land until after its publication.[54][55] Wallace began research for the story in 1873 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and made several additional research trips to Washington, Boston, and New York.[7][54]

To establish an authentic background for his story, Wallace gathered references on Roman history as well as the geography, culture, language, customs, architecture, and daily life in the ancient world from libraries across the United States. He also studied the Bible. Wallace intended to identify the plants, birds, names, architectural practices, and other details. He later wrote: "I examined catalogues of books and maps, and sent for everything likely to be useful. I wrote with a chart always before my eyes—a German publication showing the towns and villages, all sacred places, the heights, the depressions, the passes, trails, and distances."[56] Wallace also recounted traveling to Boston and Washington, D.C. to research the exact proportions for the oars of a Roman trireme.[54] In the mid-1880s, during a visit to the Holy Land after Ben-Hur was published, Wallace found his estimations were proved to be accurate and that he could "find no reason for making a single change in the text of the book."[1][57]

An example of Wallace's attention to detail is his description of the fictional chariot race and it setting at the arena in Antioch. Using a literary style that addressed his audience directly, Wallace wrote:

Let the reader try to fancy it; let him first look down on the arena, and see it glistening in its frame of dull-gray granite walls; let him then, in this perfect field, see the chariots, light of wheel, very graceful, and ornate as paint and burnishing can make them ... let the reader see the accompanying shadows fly; and, with such distinctness as the picture comes, he may share the satisfaction and deeper pleasure of those to whom it was a thrilling fact, not a feeble fancy.[1][58]

Most of the book was written during Wallace's spare time in the evening, while traveling, and at home in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he often wrote outdoors during the summer, sitting under a favorite beech tree near his home. (The tree has since that time been called the Ben-Hur Beech.)[7][59] After his appointment as governor of the New Mexico Territory , Wallace moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he served as territorial governor from August 1878 to March 1881.[60] He completed Ben-Hur in 1880 at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.[61] Wallace wrote mostly at night, after his formal duties had concluded, in a room in the palace that was once described in tours as the birthplace of Ben-Hur.[62] In his memoirs Wallace recalled how he composed the climactic scenes of the Crucifixion by lantern light: "The ghosts, if they were about, did not disturb me; yet in the midst of that gloomy harborage I beheld the Crucifixion, and strove to write what I beheld."[51]

In March 1880 Wallace copied the final manuscript of Ben-Hur in purple ink as a tribute to the Christian season of Lent, took a leave of absence from his post as New Mexico's territorial governor, and traveled to New York City to deliver it to his publisher. On April 20 Wallace personally presented the manuscript to Joseph Henry Harper of Harper and Brothers, who accepted it for publication.[63][64] At the time of Ben-Hur's publication, the idea of presenting Christ and the Crucifixion in a fictional novel was a sensitive issue. Wallace's depiction of Christ could have been considered by some as blasphemy, but the quality of his manuscript and his assurances that he had not intended to offend Christians with his writing overcame the publisher's reservations.[65] Harper praised it as "the most beautiful manuscript that has ever come into this house. A bold experiment to make Christ a hero that has been often tried and always failed."[1][66] Harper and Brothers offered Wallace a contract that would earn him ten percent in royalties and published Ben-Hur on November 12, 1880. It initially sold for $1.50 per copy, an expensive price when compared to other popular novels published at the time.[65][67][68]

Wallace's religious beliefs

It is ironic that an acclaimed biblical novel,[69] one that would rival the Bible in popularity during the Gilded Age, was inspired by a discussion with a noted agnostic and written by an author who was never a member of any church.[7] Its publication prompted speculation about Wallace’s faith. Wallace claimed that when he began writing Ben-Hur, he was not "in the least influenced by religious sentiment" and "had no convictions about God or Christ",[44][69] but he was fascinated by the biblical story of the three Magi's journey to find Jesus, king of the Jews. After extensive studies of the Bible and the Holy Land, and well before he had completed the novel, Wallace became a believer in God and Christ.[51][69][70] In his autobiography Wallace acknowledged:

In the very beginning, before distractions overtake me, I wish to say that I believe absolutely in the Christian conception of God. As far as it goes, this confession is broad and unqualified, and it ought and would be sufficient were it not that books of mine—Ben-Hur and The Prince of India—have led many persons to speculate concerning my creed .... I am not a member of any church or denomination, nor have I ever been. Not that churches are objectionable to me, but simply because my freedom is enjoyable, and I do not think myself good enough to be a communicant.[1][71]

Publication history

Initial sales of Ben-Hur were slow, only 2,800 copies were sold in the first seven months, but within two years the book had become popular among readers.[72] At the beginning of its third year, 750 copies were sold each month, and by 1885, the monthly average was 1,200 copies.[67] By 1886 the book was earning Wallace about $11,000 in annual royalties, a substantial amount at the time, and began to sell, on average, an estimated 50,000 copies per year.[53][73][74] By 1889 Harper and Brothers had sold 400,000 copies.[43][75] Ten years after its initial publication the book had reached sustained sales of 4,500 per month.[67] A study conducted in 1893 of American public library book loans found that Ben-Hur had the highest percentage (eighty-three percent) of loans among contemporary novels.[7] In addition to the publication of the complete novel, two parts were published as separate volumes: The First Christmas (1899) and The Chariot Race (1912).[74]

In 1900 Ben-Hur became the best-selling American novel of the 19th century, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.[76][77] By that time it had been printed in thirty-six English-language editions and translated into twenty other languages, including Indonesian and Braille.[78] Literary historian James D. Hart explained that by the turn of the century, "If every American did not read the novel, almost everyone was aware of it."[67] Between 1880 and 1912, an estimated one million copies of the book were sold, and in 1913, Sears Roebuck ordered another one million copies, at that time the largest single-year print edition in American history, and sold them for 39 cents apiece.[2][74]

Within twenty years of it publication, Ben-Hur was "second only to the Bible as the best-selling book in America", and remained in second position until Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind (1936) surpassed it.[1][6] A 1946 edition of Ben-Hur published by Grosset and Dunlap boasted that 26 million copies of the novel were in print.[74] With the release of the 1959 film adaptation of the book, Ben-Hur returned to the top of the bestseller lists in the 1960s. At the time of the book's one hundredth anniversary in 1980, Ben-Hur had never been out of print and had been adapted for the stage and several motion pictures.[79]

Reception

Ben-Hur was popular in its own day despite slow initial sales and mixed reviews from contemporary literary critics, who "found its romanticism passé and its action pulpy".[7] Century magazine called it an "anachronism" and The Atlantic panned its descriptions as "too lavish".[67] For its readers, however, the book "resonated with some of the most significant issues in late Victorian culture: gender and family; slavery and freedom; ethnicity and empire; and nationhood and citizenship".[6] With the chariot race as its central attraction and the character of Judah emerging as a "heroic action figure",[6] Ben-Hur enjoyed a wide popularity among readers, similar to the dime novels of its day;[7] however, its continued appearance on popular lists of great American literature remained a source of frustration for many literary critics over the years.[78]

The novel had millions of fans, including several influential men in politics. U.S. president and American Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. president James Garfield, and Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, were enthusiastic fans.[7] Garfield was so impressed that he appointed Wallace as U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire, based in Constantinople, Turkey. Wallace served in this diplomatic post from 1881 to 1885.[80]

Ben-Hur was published at time when the United States was moving away from war and reconstruction.[7] One scholar argues that Ben-Hur became so popular that it "helped to reunite the nation in the years following Reconstruction".[6] It has been suggested that the Southerners' positive reception of a book written by Wallace, a former Union general, was his message of compassion overcoming vengeance and his sympathetic description of slaveholders.[7] Poet, editor and Confederate veteran Paul Hamilton Hayne described Ben-Hur as "simple, straightforward, but eloquent".[7][81]

Critics point to problems such as flat characters and dialogue, unlikely coincidences driving the plot, and tedious and lengthy descriptions of settings, but others note its well-structured plot and exciting story,[78] with its unusual mix of romanticism, spiritual piety, action and adventure.[49] A New York Times review in 1905 referred to Ben-Hur as Wallace's masterwork, further noting it "appealed to the unsophisticated and unliterary. People who read much else of worth rarely read Ben-Hur".[82]

Popular novels of Christ's life, such as Reverend J. H. Ingraham's The Prince of the House of David (1855), preceded Wallace's novel, while others such as Charles M. Shedon's "In His Steps": What Would Jesus Do? (1897) followed it, but Ben-Hur was among the first to make Jesus a major character in a novel.[7] Members of the clergy and others praised Wallace's detailed description of the Middle East during Jesus's lifetime and encouraged their congregations to read the book at home and during Sunday School.[83] One Roman Catholic priest wrote to Wallace: "The messiah appears before us as I always wished him depicted".[7]

Readers also credited Wallace's novel with making Jesus's story more believable by providing vivid descriptions of the Holy Land and inserting his own character of Judah into scenes from the gospels. One former alcoholic, George Parrish from Kewanee, Illinois, wrote the author a letter crediting Ben-Hur with causing him to reject alcohol and find religion. Parrish remarked: "It seemed to bring Christ home to me as nothing else could".[7] Others who were inspired by the novel dedicated themselves to Christian service and became missionaries, some of them helping to translate Ben-Hur into other languages.[83] This kind of religious support helped Ben-Hur become one of the best-selling novels of its time. It not only reduced lingering American resistance to the novel as a literary form, but later adaptations were instrumental in introducing some Christian audiences to theater and film.[7][49]

Adaptations

Stage

1901 poster for a production of the play at the Illinois Theatre, Chicago

After the novel's publication in 1880, Wallace was deluged with requests to dramatize it as a stage play, but he resisted, arguing no one could accurately portray Christ on stage or recreate a realistic chariot race.[84] When dramatist William Young suggested a solution to represent Jesus with a beam of light, the author was impressed. In 1899 Wallace entered into an agreement with theatrical producers Marc Klaw and Abraham Erlanger to turn his novel into a stage adaptation. The resulting play opened at the Broadway Theater in New York City on November 29, 1899. Critics gave it mixed reviews, but the audience, many of them first-time theater-goers, packed each performance. It became a hit, selling 25,000 tickets per week.[74][85] From 1899 until its last performance in 1921, the show played in large venues in U.S. cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore, and traveled internationally to London, England, and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. The stage adaptation was seen by an estimated twenty million people.[85] and William Jennings Bryan claimed it was "the greatest play on stage when measured by its religious tone and more effect."[7] Its popularity introduced the theater to a new audience, "many of them devout churchgoers who’d previously been suspicious of the stage."[7]

The key spectacle of the show recreated the chariot race with live horses and real chariots running on treadmills with a rotating backdrop.[86] Its elaborate set and staging came at a time "when theatre was yearning to be cinema."[87][88] After Wallace saw the elaborate stage sets, he exclaimed, "My God. Did I set all of this in motion?"[7]

When the play was produced in London in 1902, The Era's drama critic described how the chariot race was achieved with "four great cradles" 20 feet (6.1 m) long and 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, that moved "back and front on railways", while horses secured with invisible steel cable traces galloped on treadmills towards the audience. The horses also drove the movement of a vast cyclorama backdrop, which revolved in the opposite direction to create an illusion of rapid speed. Electric rubber rollers spun the chariot wheels, while fans created clouds of dust. The production had imported thirty tons of stage equipment from the United States, employed a cast of more than one hundred, and featured sets with fountains, palm trees, and the sinking of a Roman galley.[88] A critic for The Illustrated London News described the London production in 1902 as "a marvel of stage-illusion" that was "memorable beyond all else", while The Sketchs critic called it "thrilling and realistic ... enough to make the fortune of any play" and noted that "the stage, which has to bear 30 tons' weight of chariots and horses, besides huge crowds, has had to be expressly strengthened and shored up."[1][88]

In 2009 Ben Hur Live was staged at the O2 arena, on the Greenwich peninsula in London. It featured a live chariot race, gladiatorial combat, and a sea battle. The production used forty-six horses, 500 tons of special sand, and 400 cast and crew. All of the show's dialogue was in Latin and Aramaic of the period, with voiceover narration. However, despite its massive staging, a critic for The Guardian remarked it lacked the theatrical spectacle to inspire the imagination of its audience.[89] In contrast, London's Battersea Arts Centre staged a lower-key version of Ben-Hur in 2002 that featured a limited cast of ten and the chariot race.[87]

Film, radio and television

The development of the cinema following the novel's publication saw film adaptations in 1907, 1925, 1959, 2003, 2016, and as a North American TV mini-series in 2010.[90]

In 1907 Sidney Olcott and Frank Oakes Ross directed a short film for the Kalem Company that was based on the book, but it did not have the Wallace heir's or the book publisher's permissions.[74][91] Henry Wallace, the author’s son, stage producers Klaw and Erlanger, and the book’s publisher, Harper and Brothers, sued the film’s producers for violating U.S. copyright laws. The landmark case, Kalem Co. v. Harper Brothers (1911) [222 U.S. 55 (1911)], went to the U.S. Supreme Court and set a legal precedent for motion picture rights in adaptations of literary and theatrical works. The court's ruling required the film company to pay $25,000 in damages plus expenses.[85][91]

Wallace's son continued to receive offers to sell the film rights to the book after his father’s death. Henry refused all offers until 1915, when he changed his mind and entered into an agreement with Erlanger for $600,000. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer later obtained the film rights.[92] The 1925 film adaptation of Ben-Hur, under director Fred Niblo, starred Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur and Francis X. Bushman as Messala.[93] Filming began in Italy and was completed in the United States. It cost MGM $3.9 million, "making it the most expensive silent film in history."[92] The film premiered on December 20, 1925, at the George M. Cohan Theater in New York City. It received positive reviews[92] and became a top-grossing silent film of the era.[94]

In 1955 MGM began planning for a new version of the film with William Wyler, who had worked as an assistant director of the chariot race in the 1925 film,[1] as its director. The 1959 film adaptation of Ben-Hur, starred Charlton Heston as Judah, with Stephen Boyd as Messala. It was shot on location in Rome. Filming wrapped on January 7, 1959.[95] At a cost of an estimated $12.5 to of $15 million, it became the most expensive motion picture made up to that time; it was also among the most successful films ever made.[95] The film premiered at Loews State Theater in New York City on November 18, 1959. It earned more than $40 million at the box office and an estimated $20 million more in merchandising revenues.[94][96]

Wallace’s novel was eclipsed by the popularity of Wyler's 1959 film adaptation, a "blockbuster hit for MGM", that won a record eleven Academy awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and became the top-grossing film of 1960.[90] Heston, who won the Oscar in 1960 for Best Actor, called it his "best film work";[97] Wyler won the Academy's award for Best Director. In 1998 the American Film Institute named Wyler's film one of the hundred best American films of all time.[97] Gore Vidal, who co-wrote the film, stated that he had added a homo-erotic sub-text.[89]

A BBC Radio 4 dramatization of the book in four parts, first broadcast in the United Kingdom in March–April, 1995,[98] starred Jamie Glover as Ben-Hur, with a cast that included Samuel West and Michael Gambon.[99]

Selected film and stage adaptations

Books

Ben-Hur's success encouraged the publication of other historical romance stories of the ancient world, including G. J. Whyte-Melville's The Gladiator: A Tale of Rome and Judea (1870), Marie Corelli's Barabbas (1901), and Florence Morse Kingsley's Titus, A Comrade of the Cross (1897).[67] Other novels adapted Wallace's story: H. M. Blen's Ben-Beor (1891), J. O. A. Clark's Esther: A Sequel to Ben-Hur (1892), Miles Gerald Keon's Dion and Sibyls (1898), and J. Breckenridge Ellis's Adnah (1902).[102]

At least eight translations of the book into Hebrew were made between 1959 and 1990. Some of these versions have involved wholesale restructuring of the narrative, including changes to character, dropping of Christian themes, and plot.[103]

In 2016, Lew's great-great-granddaughter, Dr. Carol Wallace, is set to release a new novelized version of Ben-Hur, with prose updated for the 21st century, to accompany the new film version of the story.[104]

In popular culture

Ben-Hur's success also led to its popularity as a promotional tool and a prototype for popular culture merchandising.[94] Although it was not the only novel to have related popular culture products, Wallace and his publisher were the first to legally protect and successfully promote the use of their literary work for commercial purposes.[105] In the decades following its publication, Ben-Hur and its famous chariot race became well-established in popular culture as a "respected, alluring, and memorable" brand name and a recognizable icon that had mass market appeal.[106]

The novel was linked to commercial products that included Ben-Hur flour, produced by the Royal Milling Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a line of Ben-Hur toiletries, including Ben-Hur perfume from the Andrew Jergens Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.[107] Other consumer goods included Ben-Hur bicycles, cigars, automobiles, clocks and hair products. The Ben-Hur name and images also appeared in magazine advertisements for Honeywell, Ford and Green Giant products.[105] After MGM released the 1959 film adaptation of the novel, the studio licensed hundreds of companies to create related products, including Ben-Hur-related clothing, household goods, jewelry, food products, crafts and action figures.[108]

Tributes

More than one tribute to Wallace's most famous book and its fictional hero have been erected near Wallace's home in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The General Lew Wallace Study and Museum honors the character of Judah Ben-Hur with a limestone frieze of his imagined face installed over the entrance to the study.[1] Wallace's grave marker at the cemetery in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where the author is buried includes a line from the Balthazar character in Ben-Hur: "I would not give one hour of life as a soul for a thousand years of life as a man."[7]

Detailed synopsis

Poster for the 1925 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur

Part One

Biblical references: Matt. 2:1-12, Luke 2:1-20

Three Magi have come from the East. Balthasar, an Egyptian, sets up a tent in the desert, where he is joined by Melchior, a Hindu, and Gaspar, a Greek. They discover they have been brought together by their common goal. They see a bright star shining over the region, and take it as a sign to leave, following it through the desert toward the province of Judaea.

At the Joppa Gate in Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph pass through on their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. They stop at the inn at the entrance to the city, but there is no room. Mary is pregnant and, as labor begins, they head to a cave on a nearby hillside, where Jesus is born. In the pastures outside the city, a group of seven shepherds watch their flocks. Angels announce the Christ's birth. The shepherds hurry towards the city and enter the cave on the hillside to worship the Christ. They spread the news of the Christ's birth and many come to see him.

The Magi arrive in Jerusalem and inquire for news of the Christ. Herod the Great is angry to hear of another king challenging his rule and asks the Sanhedrin to find information for him. The Sanhedrin deliver a prophecy written by Micah, telling of a ruler to come from Bethlehem Ephrathah, which they interpret to signify the Christ's birthplace.

Part Two

Biblical references: Luke 2:51-52

Judah Ben-Hur, son of Ithamar, is a prince descended from a royal family of Judaea. Messala, his closest childhood friend and the son of a Roman tax-collector, leaves home for five years of education in Rome. He returns as a proud Roman. He mocks Judah and his religion and the two become enemies. As a result, Judah decides to go to Rome for military training in order to use his acquired skills to fight the Roman Empire.

Valerius Gratus, the fourth Roman prefect of Judaea, passes by Judah's house.[109] As Judah watches the procession from his rooftop, a loose roof tile happens to fall and hit the governor. Messala betrays Judah, who is quickly captured and accused of attempting to murder Gratus. There is no trial; Judah's entire family is secretly imprisoned in the Antonia Fortress and all their property is seized. As he is taken away, Judah vows vengeance against the Romans. He is sent as a slave to work aboard a Roman warship. On the journey to the ship, he meets a young carpenter named Jesus, who offers him water, which deeply moves Judah and strengthens his resolve to survive.

Part Three

In Italy, Greek pirate-ships have been looting Roman vessels in the Aegean Sea. The prefect Sejanus orders the Roman Quintus Arrius to take warships to combat the pirates. Chained on one of the warships, Judah has survived three hard years as a Roman slave, kept alive by his passion for vengeance. Arrius is impressed by Judah and decides to question him about his life and his story. He is stunned to learn of Judah's former status as a son of Hur. In battle, the ship is damaged and starts to sink. Arrius unlocks Judah's chains so he has a chance to survive, and Judah ends up saving the Roman from drowning. They share a plank as a makeshift raft until being rescued by a Roman ship, whereupon they learn that the Romans were victorious in the battle; Arrius is lauded as a hero. They return to Misenum, where Arrius adopts Judah as his son, making him a freedman and a Roman citizen.

Part Four

Judah Ben-Hur trains in wrestling for five years in the Palaestra in Rome before becoming the heir of Arrius after his death. While traveling to Antioch on state business, Judah learns that his real father's chief servant, the slave Simonides, lives in a house in this city, and has the trust of Judah's father's possessions, which he has invested so well that he is now wealthy. Judah visits Simonides, who listens to his story but demands more proof of his identity. Ben-Hur says he has no proof, but asks if Simonides knows of the fate of Judah's mother and sister. He says he knows nothing and Judah leaves the house. Simonides sends his servant Malluch to spy on Judah to see if his story is true and to learn more about him. Shortly afterwards, Malluch meets and befriends Judah in the Grove of Daphne, and they go to the games stadium together. There, Ben-Hur finds his old rival Messala racing one of the chariots, preparing for a tournament.

The Sheik Ilderim announces that he is looking for a chariot driver to race his team in the coming tournament. Judah, wanting revenge, offers to drive the sheik's chariot, as he intends to defeat Messala. Balthasar and his daughter Iras are sitting at a fountain in the stadium. Messala's chariot nearly hits them but Judah intervenes. Balthasar thanks Ben-Hur and presents him with a gift. Judah heads to Sheik Ilderim's tent. The servant Malluch accompanies him, and they talk about the Christ; Malluch relates Balthasar's story of the Magi. They realize that Judah saved the man who saw the Christ soon after his birth.

Simonides, his daughter Esther, and Malluch talk together, and conclude that Judah is who he claims to be, and that he is on their side in the fight against Rome. Messala realizes that Judah Ben-Hur has been adopted into a Roman home and his honor has been restored. He threatens to take revenge. Meanwhile, Balthasar and his daughter Iras arrive at the Sheik's tent. With Judah they discuss how the Christ, approaching the age of thirty, is ready to enter public leadership. Judah takes increasing interest in the beautiful Iras.

Part Five

Messala sends a letter to Valerius Gratus about his discovery of Judah, but Sheik Ilderim intercepts the letter and shares it with Judah. He discovers that his mother and sister were imprisoned in a cell at the Antonia Fortress, and Messala has been spying on him. Meanwhile, Ilderim is deeply impressed with Judah's skills with his racing horses, and accepts him as his charioteer.

Simonides comes to Judah and offers him the accumulated fortune of the Hur family business, of which the merchant has been steward. Judah Ben-Hur accepts only the original amount of money, leaving property and the rest to the loyal merchant. They each agree to do their part to fight for the Christ, whom they believe to be a political savior from Roman authority.

A day before the race, Ilderim prepares his horses. Judah appoints Malluch to organize his support campaign for him. Meanwhile, Messala organizes his own huge campaign, revealing Judah Ben-Hur's former identity to the community as an outcast and convict. Malluch challenges Messala and his cronies to a large wager, which, if the Roman loses, would bankrupt him.

The day of the race comes. During the race, Messala and Judah become the clear leaders. Judah deliberately scrapes his chariot wheel against Messala's and Messala's chariot breaks apart, causing him to be trampled by other racers' horses. Judah is crowned the winner and showered with prizes, claiming his first strike against Rome. Messala is left with a broken body and the loss of his wealth.

After the race, Judah Ben-Hur receives a letter from Iras asking him to go to the Roman palace of Idernee. When he arrives, he sees that he has been tricked. Thord, a Saxon, hired by Messala, comes to kill Judah. They duel, and Ben-Hur offers Thord four thousand sestertii to let him live. Thord returns to Messala claiming to have killed Judah, so collects money from them both. Supposedly dead, Judah Ben-Hur goes to the desert with Ilderim to plan a secret campaign.

Part Six

For Ben-Hur, Simonides bribes Sejanus to remove the prefect Valerius Gratus from his post; Valerius is succeeded by Pontius Pilate. Ben-Hur sets out for Jerusalem to find his mother and sister. Pilate's review of the prison records reveals great injustice, and he notes Gratus concealed a walled-up cell. Pilate's troops reopen the cell to find two women, Judah's long-lost mother and sister, suffering from leprosy. Pilate releases them, and they go to the old Hur house, which is vacant. Finding Judah asleep on the steps, they give thanks to God that he is alive, but do not wake him. As lepers, they are considered less than human. Banished from the city, they leave in the morning.

Amrah, the Egyptian maid who once served the Hur house, discovers Ben-Hur and wakes him. She reveals that she has stayed in the Hur house for all these years. Keeping touch with Simonides, she discouraged many potential buyers of the house by acting as a ghost. They pledge to find out more about the lost family. Judah discovers an official Roman report about the release of two leprous women. Amrah hears rumors of the mother and sister's fate.

Romans make plans to use funds from the corban treasury, of the Temple in Jerusalem, to build a new aqueduct. The Jewish people petition Pilate to veto the plan. Pilate sends his soldiers in disguise to mingle with the crowd, who at an appointed time, begin to massacre the protesters. Judah kills a Roman guard in a duel, and becomes a hero in the eyes of a group of Galilean protesters.

Part Seven

Biblical references: John 1:29-34

At a meeting in Bethany, Ben-Hur and his Galilean followers organize a resistance force to revolt against Rome. Gaining help from Simonides and Ilderim, he sets up a training base in Ilderim's territory in the desert. After some time, Malluch writes announcing the appearance of a prophet believed to be a herald for the Christ. Judah journeys to the Jordan to see the Prophet, meeting Balthasar and Iras traveling for the same purpose. They reach Bethabara, where a group has gathered to hear John the Baptist preach. A man walks up to John, and asks to be baptized. Judah recognizes Him as the man who gave him water at the well in Nazareth many years before. Balthasar worships Him as the Christ.

Part Eight

Biblical references: Matthew 27:48-51, Mark 11:9-11, 14:51-52, Luke 23:26-46, John 12:12-18, 18:2-19:30

During the next three years, that Man, Jesus, preaches his gospel around Galilee, and Ben-Hur becomes one of his followers. He notices that Jesus chooses fishermen, farmers, and similar people, considered "lowly", as apostles. Judah has seen Jesus perform miracles, and is now convinced that the Christ really had come.

During this time, Malluch has bought the old Hur house and renovated it. He invites Simonides and Balthasar, with their daughters, to live in the house with him. Judah Ben-Hur seldom visits, but the day before Jesus plans to enter Jerusalem and proclaim himself, Judah returns. He tells all who are in the house of what he has learned while following Jesus. Amrah realizes that Judah's mother and sister could be healed, and brings them from a cave where they are living. The next day, the three await Jesus by the side of a road and seek his healing. Amidst the celebration of his Triumphal Entry, Jesus heals the women. When they are cured, they reunite with Judah.

Several days later, Iras talks with Judah, saying he has trusted in a false hope, for Jesus had not started the expected revolution. She says that it is all over between them, saying she loves Messala. Ben-Hur remembers the "invitation of Iras" that led to the incident with Thord, and accuses Iras of betraying him. That night, he resolves to go to Esther.

While lost in thought, he notices a parade in the street and falls in with it. He notices that Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' disciples, is leading the parade, and many of the temple priests and Roman soldiers are marching together. They go to the olive grove of Gethsemane, and he sees Jesus walking out to meet the crowd. Understanding the betrayal, Ben-Hur is spotted by a priest who tries to take him into custody; he breaks away and flees. When morning comes, Ben-Hur learns that the Jewish priests have tried Jesus before Pilate. Although originally acquitted, Jesus has been sentenced to crucifixion at the crowd's demand. Ben-Hur is shocked at how his supporters have deserted Christ in his time of need. They head to Calvary, and Ben-Hur resigns himself to watch the crucifixion of Jesus. The sky darkens. Ben-Hur offers Jesus wine vinegar to return Jesus' favor to him, and soon after that Jesus utters his last cry. Judah and his friends commit their lives to Jesus, realizing He was not an earthly king, but a heavenly King and a Savior of mankind.

Five years after the crucifixion, Ben-Hur and Esther have married and had children. The family lives in Misenum. Iras visits Esther and tells her she has killed Messala, discovering that the Romans were brutes. She also implies that she will attempt suicide. After Esther tells Ben-Hur of the visit, he tries unsuccessfully to find Iras. A Samaritan uprising in Judaea is harshly suppressed by Pontius Pilate, and he is ordered back to Rome a decade after authorizing the crucifixion of Jesus.

In the tenth year of Emperor Nero's reign, Ben-Hur is staying with Simonides, whose business has been extremely successful. With Ben-Hur, the two men have given most of the fortunes to the church of Antioch. Now, as an old man, Simonides has sold all his ships but one, and that one has returned for probably its final voyage. Learning that the Christians in Rome are suffering at the hands of Emperor Nero, Ben-Hur and his friends decide to help. Ben-Hur, Esther and Malluch sail to Rome, where they decided to build an underground church. It will survive through the ages and comes to be known as the Catacomb of Callixtus.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Amu Lifton (2009). "Ben-Hur: The Book That Shook the World". Humanities (Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Humanities) 30 (6). Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  2. 1 2 Wallace, Lew (1998) Ben-Hur. Oxford World's Classics, p. vii.
  3. ↑ Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts, New York: Random House Value Publishing, 1981
  4. ↑ For a discussion of the historical Jesus, see Allan Powell (1999). Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press. p. 25. ISBN 0-664-25703-8.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 298.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Miller, p. 155.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 John Swansburg (2013-03-26). "The Passion of Lew Wallace". Slate. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 552.
  9. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 100 and 171
  10. ↑ David Mandel (2007). Who's Who in the Jewish Bible. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. p. 62. ISBN 0-8276-0863-2.
  11. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 82.
  12. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography, p. 936.
  13. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 302.
  14. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 112.
  15. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 174.
  16. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 180 and 548.
  17. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography, p. 932.
  18. ↑ McKee, "The Early Life of Lew Wallace", p. 206.
  19. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 185, 205 and 220.
  20. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 93–4.
  21. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 81–2.
  22. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 301 and 303.
  23. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 83.
  24. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 77 and 80.
  25. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 118–19.
  26. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 135, 160–62, and 166–67.
  27. 1 2 Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 9, 12–17.
  28. 1 2 Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 303.
  29. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 206 and 231.
  30. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 385.
  31. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 392–403.
  32. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 380–85.
  33. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 64 and 76.
  34. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 41.
  35. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 39–41.
  36. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 459, 461–66.
  37. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 933–4.
  38. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 126.
  39. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 350–54.
  40. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 370.
  41. ↑ Stephens, p. 234 and 236.
  42. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 544–5.
  43. 1 2 Boomhower, p. 111.
  44. 1 2 Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 927.
  45. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 298–9.
  46. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography, p. 930. Wallace's article, "How I Came to Write Ben-Hur", which appeared in the February 2, 1893, issue of The Youths Companion, was included as part of his autobiography.
  47. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 299.
  48. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 930.
  49. 1 2 3 Russell W. Dalton, Ben-Hur (2009), New York: Barnes and Noble.
  50. ↑ Morseberger and Morseberger, p. 292.
  51. 1 2 3 Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 936.
  52. ↑ Victor Davis Hanson (2003). Ripples of Battle: How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think. New York: Doubleday. p. 136–9. ISBN 0-385-50400-4.
  53. 1 2 Stephens, p. 229.
  54. 1 2 3 Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 300.
  55. ↑ Wallace and his wife Susan visited the Holy Land, including Jerusalem and the surrounding area, during his service as U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire (1881–85). See Boomhower, p. 119 and 125.
  56. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 934.
  57. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 937.
  58. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 360–61.
  59. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 934–5.
  60. ↑ Boomhower, p. 98 and 101; Ferraro, p. 142; and Morrow, p. 15.
  61. ↑ Boomhower, p. 110; Morrow, p. 15; and Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 300–1.
  62. ↑ There remains some dispute as to which room Wallace used. His description of the room and subsequent remodeling of the palace have made its location unrecognizable. See Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 291–2.
  63. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 292–3, and 301.
  64. ↑ The original manuscript of Ben=Hur is held at the Lilly Library, Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. See "Lilly Library Manuscripts Collection: Wallace Mss. II". Indiana University. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  65. 1 2 Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 293.
  66. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 938.
  67. 1 2 3 4 5 6 James D. Hart (1950). The Popular Book: A History of America’s Literary Taste. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 163–4. ISBN 0-8371-8694-3.
  68. ↑ Boomhower, p. 9, 91, and 110.
  69. 1 2 3 Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 297.
  70. ↑ Miller, p. 160.
  71. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography (1906), p. 1–2.
  72. ↑ Boomhower, p. 11 and 110, and Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 294.
  73. ↑ Boomhower, p. 12.
  74. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jon Solomon (2008). "Fugitive Sources, Ben-Hur, and the Popular Art "Property"". RBM (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries) 9 (1): 68. Retrieved 2014-10-27.
  75. ↑ Hanson, p. 140.
  76. ↑ Lew Wallace (2003). Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, with a New Introduction by Tim LaHaye. New York: Signet Classic. p. vii.
  77. ↑ Morrow, p. 16.
  78. 1 2 3 Russell W. Dalton (Introduction). Ben-Hur. Barnes and Noble Books, New York.
  79. ↑ Boomhower, p. 11 and 138, and Morrow, p. 10, 17–18.
  80. ↑ Stephens, p. 229–30.
  81. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography, p. 947.
  82. ↑ "The Author of 'Ben Hur'". The New York Times (New York City). 1905-02-18. Retrieved 2014-10-06.
  83. 1 2 Miller, p. 160–1.
  84. ↑ Boomhower, p. 138–9.
  85. 1 2 3 4 5 Boomhower, p. 140–1.
  86. ↑ Boomhower, p. 140.
  87. 1 2 Samantha Ellis (2002-11-23). "Ben-Hur Returns to the Stage after 100 Years". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  88. 1 2 3 Samantha Ellis (2003-10-08). "Ben-Hur, London, 1902". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  89. 1 2 Espiner, Mark (2009-09-14). "Ben Hur Live leaves little to the imagination". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News and Media). Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  90. 1 2 Cobbett Steinberg (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File. p. 17 and 23. ISBN 0-87196-313-2.
  91. 1 2 Roy Kinnard and Tim Davis (1992). Divine Images: A History of Jesus on the Screen. New York: Carol Publishing Group. p. 29. ISBN 0-80651-284-9.
  92. 1 2 3 4 Boomhower, p. 141–2.
  93. ↑ Gary Allen Smith (2004). Epic Films: Casts, Credits and Commentary on over 350 Historical Spectacle Movies (2nd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co. p. 33. ISBN 0-7864-1530-4.
  94. 1 2 3 Solomon, p. 68–9.
  95. 1 2 Smith, p. 34–35.
  96. 1 2 Boomhower, 142–4.
  97. 1 2 Boomhower, p. 144.
  98. ↑ BBC Genome Beta Radio Times 1923-2009
  99. ↑ "Lew Wallace – Ben Hur". BBC. 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  100. ↑ Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, co-produced by Mark Burnett, Sean Daniel, and Roma Downey, and written for the screen by Keith Clarke (The Way Back) and John Ridley (12 Years a Slave). See Mike Fleming, Jr. (January 14, 2013). "Sweet Chariot! MGM is Rebooting ‘Ben-Hur". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.; Justin Kroll (April 23, 2014). "Paramount Joins MGM on 'Ben-Hur' Remake". Variety Media, LLC. Retrieved October 28, 2014.; and Mike Fleming Jr. (April 25, 2014). "Jesus Whisperers Mark Burnett And Roma Downey Board MGM/Paramount's 'Ben-Hur'". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  101. ↑ McNary, Dave. "‘Ben-Hur’ Remake Moved to August". Variety.
  102. ↑ Solomon, p. 75.
  103. ↑ Israeli academic Nitsa Ben-Ari discusses the complex socio-political context of these translations and changes. See Nitsa Ben-Ari (2002). "The Double Conversion of Ben-Hur: A Case of Manipulative Translation" (PDF). Tel Aviv University. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
  104. ↑ "Ben-Hur". Tyndale. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  105. 1 2 Solomon, p. 74.
  106. ↑ Solomon, p. 78.
  107. ↑ Miller, p. 158 and 167.
  108. ↑ Miller, p. 171.
  109. ↑ Wallace uses "procurator," which until 1961 was thought to be the correct title.

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