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: A Tale of the Christ State 3]. The book is dedicated "To the Wife of My Youth". This dedication appears in the first printing run of about 5,000 copies, all either in the first edition, first state binding, or in two alternate bindings. In an 1887 printing of "Ben-Hur" at the Rare Books Department of the Cincinnati Public Library, Lew Wallace wrote to Alexander Hill: "My Dear Friend Hill—When "Ben-Hur" was finished, I told my wife it was to be dedicated to her, and that she must furnish the inscription. She wrote 'To the Wife of My Youth' / The book became popular; then I