Judah Ben-Hur realising that forgiveness is more important than revenge. Esther becomes his wife and the mother of his children. Five years after the chariot race, Judah learns from Iras that she killed Messala. In approximately AD 64 (being the tenth year of Nero's reign), Judah finds out about the suffering of their fellow Christians. He gives his fortune to help construct the Catacomb of Callixtus and an underground church within the catacombs. In the Ben-Hur was portrayed by Ramon Novarro. In the 1959 film directed by William Wyler, Ben-Hur was played by Charlton Heston who won the Academy Award for Best
Ben-Hur (2016 film) them free. Despite his anger, Messala finds the strength to forgive Ben-Hur and is reconciled with him and his family. Together, Ben-Hur, his mother, sister, Esther, and Messala accompany Sheik Ilderim's caravan as they leave Jerusalem. In 2013, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired Keith R. Clarke's script, an adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "", which is in the public domain. In April 2014, Paramount Pictures and MGM announced that they would co-produce a new version of "Ben-Hur", based on the novel, with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey serving as producer and executive producer, respectively. MGM had previously released two films based on