Ben-Hur (1959 film) and the 2nd best American epic film in the AFI's 10 Top 10. In 2004, the National Film Preservation Board selected "Ben-Hur" for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" motion picture. In AD 26, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy prince and merchant in Jerusalem, who lives with his mother, Miriam (Martha Scott); his sister, Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell); and their female servant Amrah (Stella Vitelleschi). The family's loyal slave, the merchant Simonides (Sam Jaffe), pays a visit with his daughter, Esther (Haya Harareet). Judah and Esther
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Miles Gerald Keon's "Dion and Sibyls" (1898), and J. Breckenridge Ellis's "Adnah" (1902). "Esther" and other unauthorized uses of Wallace's characters led to court cases initiated by Wallace and his son Henry, to protect authors' copyrights. At least eight translations of the book into Hebrew were made between 1959 and 1990. Some of these versions have involved wholesale restructuring of the narrative, including changes to character, dropping of Christian themes, and plot. In 2016, Wallace's great-great-granddaughter, Carol Wallace, published a version of "Ben-Hur" which was released to coincide with the new film version, using prose for 21st century readers. "Ben-Hur"'s