Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ "Ben-Hur" as the most influential Christian book of the 19th century, while others have identified it as one of the best-selling novels of all time. Carl Van Doren wrote that "Ben-Hur" was, along with "Uncle Tom's Cabin", the first fiction many Americans read. Wallace's original plan was to write a story of the biblical magi as a magazine serial, which he began in 1873, but he had changed its focus by 1874. "Ben-Hur" begins with the story of the magi, but the remainder of the novel connects the story of Christ with the adventures of Wallace's fictional character, Judah Ben-Hur.
Ben-Hur (1959 film) which was released on Lion Records (an MGM subsidiary which issued low-priced records) in 1959. This made the "Ben-Hur" film musical score the first to be released not only in its entirety but also as a separate album. The "Ben-Hur" score has been considered the best of Rózsa's career. The musical soundtrack to "Ben-Hur" remained deeply influential into the mid 1970s, when film music composed by John Williams for films such as "Jaws", "", and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" became more popular among composers and film-goers. Rózsa's score has since seen several notable re-releases, including by the Nuremberg Symphony