Readers meet the fictional character of Judah for the first time in book two, when his childhood friend Messala, also a fictional character, returns to Jerusalem as an ambitious commanding officer of the Roman legions.
Book one opens with the story of the three magi, who arrive in Bethlehem to hear the news of Christ's birth. The novel is divided into eight books, or parts, each with its own subchapters. The story's revenge plot becomes a story of compassion and forgiveness. The novel reflects themes of betrayal, conviction, and redemption, with a revenge plot that leads to a story of love and compassion.īen-Hur is a story of a fictional hero named Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman who was falsely accused and convicted of an attempted assassination of the Roman governor of Judaea and consequently enslaved by the Romans. Running in parallel with Judah's narrative is the unfolding story of Jesus, from the same region and around the same age. The story recounts the adventures of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince from Jerusalem, who is enslaved by the Romans at the beginning of the first century and becomes a charioteer and a Christian. The success of the novel and its stage and film adaptations also helped it to become a popular cultural icon that was used to promote numerous commercial products.
It was blessed by Pope Leo XIII, the first novel ever to receive such an honour. The 1959 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur is considered one of the greatest films ever made and was seen by tens of millions, going on to win a record 11 Academy Awards in 1960, after which the book's sales increased and it surpassed Gone with the Wind.
all-time bestseller list until the 1936 publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. The book also inspired other novels with biblical settings and was adapted for the stage and motion picture productions.īen-Hur remained at the top of the U.S. It became a best-selling American novel, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) in sales. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ at Wikisourceīen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace, published by Harper and Brothers on November 12, 1880, and considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century".
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