Judah Ben-Hur

Judah Ben-Hur, or just Ben-Hur, is a fictional character from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

About

Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince of Jerusalem who is descended from a royal family of Judaea; son of Ithamar;[1] enslaved by the Romans and freed by Quintus Arrius, a Roman warship commander, who also adopts Judah as his son.[2] Judah later becomes a charioteer and follower of Christ. Messala is Judah's boyhood friend who becomes his rival later in the Sheik Ilderim's chariot at Antioch.[3][4] Esther becomes his wife and the mother of his children.[5]

Etymology

The name Ben-hur derives from the Hebrew for one of King Solomon's twelve district governors (1 Kings 4:8); it also means "Son of white linen."[6] When Wallace first introduces his readers to Judah, he is described as a seventeen-year-old youth wearing garments of "fine white linen."[7] Wallace chose the biblical name because it could be "easily spelled, printed, and pronounced."[8][9][10]

References

  1. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 100 and 171
  2. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 135, 160–62, and 166–67.
  3. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 206 and 231.
  4. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 303.
  5. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 180 and 548.
  6. ↑ David Mandel (2007). Who's Who in the Jewish Bible. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. p. 62. ISBN 0-8276-0863-2.
  7. ↑ Wallace, Ben-Hur (1880), p. 82.
  8. ↑ Wallace, An Autobiography, p. 936.
  9. ↑ Morsberger and Morsberger, p. 298.
  10. ↑ Miller, p. 155.


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