Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ underground church. It will survive through the ages and comes to be known as the Catacomb of Callixtus. "Ben-Hur" is the romantic story of a fictional nobleman named Judah Ben-Hur, who tries to save his family from misfortune and restore honor to the family name, while earning the love of a modest female Jew named Esther. It is also a tale of vengeance and spiritual forgiveness that includes themes of Christian redemption and God's benevolence through the compassion of strangers. A popular theme with readers during Gilded Age America, when the novel was first published, was the idea of achieving
Ben-Hur (2016 film) discovers his mother and sister have leprosy, the former also appearing to have lost her memory. Sheik Ilderim bribes Pilate into allowing Ben-Hur to compete by proposing a high wager. Esther tries to convince Messala not to race Ben-Hur, but he is adamant that he will win. On the day of the race, Ben-Hur follows Ilderim's instructions to hold back from the race until the final laps. Using dirty tactics, Messala manages to knock out the other competing charioteers. Following a brutal and grueling race, Ben-Hur wins the race. Messala survives but is badly wounded and loses a leg. Ben-Hur's