Ben Hur Character List
Judah Ben-Hur
A Jewish prince of Jerusalem who is descended from a royal family of Judaea; son of Ithamar; enslaved by the Romans and later becomes a charioteer and follower of Christ.
Miriam
Mother of Judah Ben-Hur
Tirzah
Judah's younger sister
Simonides
A loyal Jewish servant to Ithamar, Judah's birth father; becomes a wealthy merchant in Antioch.
Esther
Modest daughter of Simonides; she becomes Judah's wife and the mother of his children. Wallace named this fictional character after his own mother, Esther French (Test) Wallace.
Malluch
Simonides servant; becomes Judah's friend.
Amrah
An Egyptian slave; former maid in the Ben-Hur household family.
Messala
A Roman nobleman and the son of a Roman tax collector; Judah's boyhood friend and rival.
Ishmael
Roman governor
Valerius Gratus
The fourth imperial (Roman) procurator of Judea. Judah is falsely accused of attempting to assassinate him.
Quintus Arrius
Roman warship commander; Judah saves him from drowning; Arrius adopts Judah as his son, making him a freedman, a Roman citizen, and Arius's heir.
Balthasar
An Egyptian; one of the biblical Magi; along with Melchior, a Hindu, and Gaspar, a Greek, who came to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Sheik Ilderim
Ilderim—an Arab who agrees to let Judah race his chariot at Antioch.
Pontius Pilate
Replaces Valerius Gratus as procurator (prefect); releases Judah's mother and sister from imprisonment in a Roman prison.
Thord
A Northman hired by Messala to kill Judah; double-crosses Messala and lets Judah live.
Jesus of Nazareth
Son of God; Christ; King of the Jews; son of Mary.
Mary
Mother of Jesus; wife of Joseph of Nazareth.
Joseph of Nazareth
A Jewish carpenter; husband of Mary, the father of Jesus Christ.
YOU ARE READING
BEN HUR : A TALE OF THE CHRIST (Book First And Second)
Historical FictionBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace, published by Harper and Brothers on November 12, 1880 and considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century". [1] It became a best-selling American novel, surpassing Ha...
