Lew Wallace · 1880 · mediterranean

Lew Wallace's 1880 epic of the Roman world, A Tale of the Christ. Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince of Jerusalem, is falsely condemned and sent to the galleys, but rises again, is adopted by a Roman, and returns east to take his revenge in the great chariot race at Antioch, his life crossing repeatedly with that of Jesus of Nazareth. The route spans the Roman Mediterranean from Judea to Rome and back.

1. 1
   Jerusalem

   In Jerusalem the young prince Judah Ben-Hur is betrayed by his Roman friend Messala, falsely accused of an attempt on the governor's life, and condemned without trial to the oar.

2. 2
   Rome

   Chained as a galley slave, Ben-Hur saves the Roman commander Arrius in a sea battle, is freed and adopted, and rises in Rome as a charioteer and a man of fortune.

3. 3
   Antioch

   Returning east to Antioch in Syria, he meets Messala again in the great hippodrome, and in a furious chariot race exacts the reckoning he has carried across the years.

4. 4
   Jerusalem

   Back in Judea, his search for his lost mother and sister leads him to the teacher from Nazareth, and to the foot of the cross, where his hatred is at last transformed.