Messala (Ben-Hur) friendship with Judah and loyalty to the Romans. In the end of film, he reconciles with Ben-Hur. The character was portrayed by Toby Kebbell. Messala (Ben-Hur) Messala is a fictional character from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "", and its film adaptations, where he appears as the main antagonist. Messala is a Roman nobleman and the son of a Roman tax collector; he is also Judah Ben-Hur's boyhood friend and turned into his arch-rival after betraying him. When Messala is reunited with Ben-Hur for the first time in five years, their different views and opinions ultimately end their friendship. Later, Messala
Ben-Hur (2016 film) each other. While being led to the prison galley, Ben-Hur encounters Jesus, who fetches him some water. Ben-Hur endures five years of slavery as a rower aboard a Roman prison galley under the command of Quintus Arius. During a naval battle against Greek rebels in the Ionian Sea, Ben-Hur's galley is boarded but collides with another ship and is destroyed as Ben-Hur manages to cling to a floating mast. He is washed ashore and is found by Sheik Ilderim, who recognizes him as an escaped slave. Ben-Hur manages to convince Ilderim not to hand him over to the Romans by