The development of the cinema following the novel's publication brought film adaptations in 1907, 1925, 1959, 2003, and 2016, as well as a North American TV miniseries in 2010. [88] Not coincidentally, Lew Wallace himself excelled at all four. Besides being a Civil War hero, the governor of New Mexico, and later the ambassador to Turkey, the Indiana native made and played his own violins, sketched and painted with skill, and held eight patents for various inventions, including a retractable reel hidden inside a fishing rod handle. But it was in literature that Wallace truly made his mark. He is the only novelist honored in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol. With a life full of distinctions, none of Wallace’s accomplishments made such an impression as his novel Ben-Hur. In its writing, Wallace’s life was transformed. Wallace resigned from the U.S. Army in November 1865 and briefly served as a major general in the Mexican Army, before returning to the United States. Wallace was appointed governor of the New Mexico Territory (1878–1881) and served as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire (1881–1885). Wallace retired to his home in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he continued to write until his death in 1905. In another familiar Biblical scene, on the banks of the Jordan, where John the Baptist blesses Jesus, we see the scene through the eyes of Ben-Hur, who is suspicious of the unwashed, unkempt John and also of a supposed king dressed as a modest rabbi and covered in dust. “Despite his familiarity with the ascetic colonists in En-Gedi—their dress, their indifference to all worldly opinion, their constancy to vows which gave them over to every imaginable suffering of body . . . still Ben-Hur’s dream of the King who was to be so great and do so much had colored all his thought of him.” Like many, he expected to see heralds and courtiers like those in Rome and was confused by what was actually in front of him. a b c d e f g h i Amy Lifson (2009). "Ben-Hur: The Book That Shook the World". Humanities. Washington D.C.: National Endowment for the Humanities. 30 (6) . Retrieved April 11, 2017.

Quintus Arrius is a Roman warship commander; Judah saves him from drowning; Arrius adopts Judah as his son, making him a freedman, a Roman citizen, and Arrius's heir. [23] The March of Lew Wallace's Division to Shiloh." In Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 1, edited by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence C. Buel. New York: Century Co., 1884–1888. pp. 608–610. OCLC 2048818. (Johnson and Buel list no author for this article, but indicate it was based on material from Wallace.)Compilation of Works of Art and Other Objects in the United States Capitol. Prepared by the Architect of the Capitol under the Joint Committee on the Library. Washington: United States Government Printing House. 1965. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link) Ferraro, William M. (June 2008). "A Struggle for Respect: Lew Wallace's Relationships with Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman After Shiloh". Indiana Magazine of History. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University. 104 (2): 125–52 . Retrieved 2014-09-09. Following President Lincoln's death on April 15, 1865, Wallace was appointed to the military commission that investigated the Lincoln assassination conspirators. The commission, which began in May, was dissolved on June 30, 1865, after all eight conspirators were found guilty. [98] In mid-August 1865, Wallace was appointed head of an eight-member military commission that investigated the conduct of Henry Wirz, the Confederate commandant in charge of the South's Andersonville prison camp. The court-martial which took nearly two months, opened on August 21, 1865. At its conclusion Wirz was found guilty and sentenced to death. [19] [99] In 1843, Wallace began writing his first novel, The Fair God, but it was not published until 1873. [122] The popular historical novel, with Cortez's conquest of Mexico as its central theme, was based on William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico. [123] Wallace's book sold seven thousand copies in its first year. Its sales continued to rise after Wallace's reputation as an author was established with the publication of subsequent novels. [124] Israeli academic Nitsa Ben-Ari discusses the complex socio-political context of these translations and changes. See Nitsa Ben-Ari (2002). " The Double Conversion of Ben-Hur: A Case of Manipulative Translation" (PDF). Tel Aviv University . Retrieved 2014-10-01.

Solomon, Jon (2008). "Fugutive Sources, Ben-Hur, and the Popular Art "Property" ". RBM. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. 9 (1): 67–78. doi: 10.5860/rbm.9.1.296.Wallace arrived in Santa Fe on September 29, 1878, to begin his service as governor of the New Mexico Territory during a time of lawless violence and political corruption. [107] Wallace was involved in efforts to resolve New Mexico's Lincoln County War, a contentious and violent disagreement among the county's residents, and tried to end a series of Apache raids on territorial settlers. [108] In 1880, while living at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, Wallace also completed the manuscript for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. [109] Iras, the beautiful daughter of Balthasar, is one of Judah's love interests, who later betrays and rejects him; she becomes Messala's mistress and eventually kills him. [24] [25] The book is dedicated "To the Wife of My Youth". This dedication appears in the first printing run of about 5,000 copies, all either in the first edition, first state binding, or in two alternate bindings. In an 1887 printing of Ben-Hur at the Rare Books Department of the Cincinnati Public Library, Lew Wallace wrote to Alexander Hill: "My Dear Friend Hill—When Ben-Hur was finished, I told my wife it was to be dedicated to her, and that she must furnish the inscription. She wrote 'To the Wife of My Youth' / The book became popular; then I began to receive letters of sympathy and enquiries as to when and of what poor Mrs. Wallace died. I laughed at first, but the condolences multiplied until finally I told the good woman that having got me into the trouble she must now get me out, which she did by adding the words--'Who still abides with me.' / The device was perfect." Wallace apparently also received many marriage proposals due to the misunderstanding. [69] Sales and subsequent publication [ edit ] a b c d e f Jon Solomon (2008). "Fugitive Sources, Ben-Hur, and the Popular Art "Property" ". RBM. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. 9 (1): 68 . Retrieved 2014-10-27. Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827–February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, artist, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is best known for his historical adventure story, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), a bestselling novel that has been called "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century." [1]