Judah Ben-Hur Judah Ben-Hur Judah Ben-Hur, or just Ben-Hur, is a fictional character and the title character from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "". The book covers the character's adventures and struggle against the Roman Empire as he tries to restore honour to his family's name after being falsely accused of attacking the Roman governor. Judah encounters Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian. Wallace wrote that he chose the name Ben-Hur "because it was biblical, and easily spelled, printed and pronounced." The name appears once in the Bible (), as the name of one of King Solomon's twelve district governors (1 Kings 4:8).
Ben Hur (1907 film) November 1911. This ruling established the precedent that all motion picture production companies must first secure the film rights of any previously published work still under copyright before commissioning a screenplay based on that work. Ben Hur (1907 film) Ben Hur is a 15-minute-long 1907 silent drama film, the first film version of Lew Wallace's novel "", one of the best-selling books at that time. The film was directed by Canadian director Sidney Olcott and Frank Oakes Rose. At fifteen minutes long, only a small portion of the story was put on screen. The focus of the piece was the