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: A Tale of the Christ book, "Ben-Hur" returned to the top of the bestseller lists in the 1960s. At the time of the book's 100th anniversary in 1980, "Ben-Hur" had never been out of print and had been adapted for the stage and several motion pictures. "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". "Century" magazine called it an "anachronism" and "The Atlantic" panned its descriptions as "too lavish". For its readers, however, the book "resonated with some of the most significant issues in late Victorian