Ben-Hur Trivia
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49 free Ben-Hur trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Ben-Hur is the story that keeps getting told: Lew Wallace's 1880 novel outsold Uncle Tom's Cabin and was blessed by a pope, the 1899 stage version ran real horses on treadmills, the 1925 silent was the costliest film of its era, and William Wyler's 1959 remake won a record eleven Academy Awards that no film has ever beaten. Then there was 2016, which most people would rather forget. This quiz covers all of it, with the emphasis where searchers want it: the 1959 film. Who turned down the lead before Charlton Heston, why the MGM lion did not roar, how the nine-minute chariot race was shot, which stuntman nearly died in it, what Gore Vidal claimed about Messala, and how the sea battle was faked in a Culver City tank. There are also questions on the plot, the cast, Miklos Rozsa's score and the novel's author, a Union general who wrote it while governor of New Mexico Territory. Every answer is checked against a reference source and each question links to where the fact was confirmed.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed the 1959 film Ben-Hur?
William Wyler
Wyler had been one of 30 assistant directors on the 1925 silent version and later joked that it took a Jew to make a good film about Christ.
Q 02How many Academy Awards did Ben-Hur (1959) win, a record at the time?
Eleven
Ben-Hur won eleven Academy Awards from twelve nominations at the April 1960 ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director.
Q 03Who wrote the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ?
Lew Wallace
Lew Wallace, a Union general at Shiloh, published Ben-Hur through Harper & Brothers on November 12, 1880, and later retired to Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Q 04Which best-selling novel did Ben-Hur surpass to become the top-selling American novel of the 19th century?
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) had been the century's best-selling American novel until Ben-Hur's sales passed it, a lead Ben-Hur then held for decades.
Q 05Ben-Hur was the first novel ever to receive what honor?
A blessing from the Pope
Pope Leo XIII blessed it, fitting for a book called the most influential Christian work of the 19th century.
Q 06Which office was the novel's author holding when Ben-Hur was published?
Governor of New Mexico Territory
The author was Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1878 to 1881, finishing the novel in Santa Fe while contending with the Lincoln County War and Billy the Kid.
Q 07An 1876 train talk with which famous agnostic spurred the author to finish his book about Christ?
Robert Ingersoll
Ingersoll invited him into his railroad compartment on the way to Indianapolis and challenged his beliefs; the author had already drafted a serial about the Magi.
Q 08How did the 1899 Broadway stage version of Ben-Hur pull off the chariot race?
Live horses galloped on treadmills before a rotating backdrop
The horses galloped full-tilt toward the audience, held by steel cable traces; the show opened November 29, 1899, and toured for two decades.
Q 09Who starred as Ben-Hur in the 1925 silent film?
Ramon Novarro
George Walsh was fired on location in Italy and replaced by Novarro; Bushman played Messala. The film became the costliest of the silent era.
Q 10Which scenes of the 1925 Ben-Hur were shot in two-color Technicolor?
The sequences involving Jesus
The color segments were later replaced by black-and-white takes for decades before restoration.
Q 11What was Ben-Hur's 1959 production budget, the largest of any film to that point?
$15.175 million
The final budget was $15.175 million, up from an initial $7 million, making Ben-Hur the most expensive film yet made when MGM staked its future on it.
Q 12Which 1956 Paramount hit inspired MGM to revive its long-stalled Ben-Hur remake?
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, DeMille's 1956 Paramount epic, proved biblical spectacle could sell, so MGM, weakened by losing its theater chains, greenlit its own Ben-Hur remake.
Q 13Why does the MGM lion stay silent at the start of Ben-Hur instead of doing its usual thing?
Q 21How was the sea battle in the 1959 film staged?
With miniatures in a huge tank on MGM's Culver City back lot
An artificial lake was built at the Rome studio for the galley scenes, but the battle itself was model work back in California.
Q 22In which Rome studio complex was Ben-Hur (1959) chiefly shot?
Cinecittà
Cinecittà, on the outskirts of Rome, hosted principal photography from May 1958; its 18-acre chariot arena was among the largest film sets ever built.
Q 23Roughly how long is the film's chariot race sequence?
Nine minutes
Wyler felt a roar would spoil the nativity opening
Wyler got permission to open with a quiet Leo so the sacred Bethlehem scene would not be undercut.
Q 14Which star turned down the role of Ben-Hur saying he did not have the legs to wear a tunic?
Paul Newman
Paul Newman turned down Judah Ben-Hur, saying he did not have the legs to wear a tunic; Kirk Douglas wanted the lead but was offered Messala instead.
Q 15Which Welsh actor won Best Supporting Actor for playing Sheik Ilderim?
Hugh Griffith
Hugh Griffith, born on Anglesey, won Best Supporting Actor as Sheik Ilderim, the horse-loving Arab whose team Judah drives in the chariot race.
Q 16Which Northern Irish actor played Messala, winning a Golden Globe?
Stephen Boyd
Stephen Boyd, born near Belfast, wore brown contact lenses as Messala because the director wanted his eyes to contrast with Heston's; he won the 1960 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.
Q 17Which Israeli actress played Judah's love interest in the 1959 Ben-Hur?
Haya Harareet
Haya Harareet, who debuted in the 1955 Israeli film Hill 24 Doesn't Answer, later married British director Jack Clayton.
Q 18Which writer claimed he gave the Judah–Messala reunion a homoerotic subtext?
Gore Vidal
Vidal made the claim in The Celluloid Closet (1995); Heston denied it, and a bitter credit dispute left Tunberg with sole screenplay credit.
Q 19In the film, what accident lets Messala condemn Judah to the galleys?
A loose roof tile falls and spooks the governor's horse
The tile falls from the Hur roof during the new governor's parade; Miriam and Tirzah are jailed and later contract leprosy.
Q 20Which Roman consul does Judah save from drowning, who then adopts him?
Quintus Arrius
Jack Hawkins played Arrius. Emperor Tiberius gives Judah to Arrius as a slave, and Judah becomes a champion charioteer in Rome.
The chariot race fills about nine minutes of screen time; Andrew Marton directed the second unit in an arena modeled on a historic circus in Jerusalem.
Q 24Which future spaghetti Western director worked as a senior assistant on the chariot race's second unit?
Sergio Leone
Leone handled retakes; a few years later he was making A Fistful of Dollars.
Q 25Which stuntman was thrown into the air in the race's most famous near-fatal accident?
Joe Canutt, Yakima Canutt's son
He escaped with a minor chin injury, and the shot of Judah being flung over the front of his chariot stayed in the film.
Q 26What breed of horses played Ben-Hur's 'Arabian' team in the chariot race?
Andalusians
Andalusians played Judah's white 'Arabian' team, while the rival chariots ran mostly Lipizzans; 78 horses were imported from Yugoslavia and Sicily in November 1957 and trained for months.
Q 27Who played Pontius Pilate in the 1959 Ben-Hur?
Frank Thring
Frank Thring, an Australian actor, played Pontius Pilate, who presides over the chariot race and places the victor's wreath on Judah's head.
Q 28How many horses were used in the making of the 1959 film, according to MGM?
2,500
MGM said 2,500 horses and more than 200 camels were used, alongside some 10,000 extras; the costume department turned out over 100,000 costumes and 1,000 suits of armor.
Q 29Who composed the score, then the longest ever written for a film?
Miklós Rózsa
He won his third Oscar for it, having researched Greek and Roman music for authenticity, and conducted the 100-piece MGM orchestra himself.
Q 30Which uncredited opera singer played Jesus, whose face is never shown?
Claude Heater
Claude Heater, an American opera singer, was performing in Rome with the Vienna State Opera when he was asked to screen test; the camera never shows his face.