50 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 50 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
Only Titanic (1998) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2004) have since matched the total; none has beaten it.
Q 03Which two later films have tied Ben-Hur's Oscar haul?
Titanic and The Return of the King
Both matched the record; The Return of the King went a perfect 11-for-11 on its nominations.
Q 04Who wrote the 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ?
Lew Wallace
A Union general at Shiloh, he later served as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire and retired to Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Q 05Which best-selling novel did Ben-Hur surpass to become the top-selling American novel of the 19th century?
Uncle Tom's Cabin
It stayed atop the all-time list until 1936, when Margaret Mitchell's Civil War epic overtook it, then reclaimed the crown after the 1959 film sent readers back to the book.
Q 06Ben-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 07Which office was the novel's author holding when Ben-Hur was published?
Governor of New Mexico Territory
He served as territorial governor from 1878 to 1881, dealing with the Lincoln County War and Billy the Kid, then went to Constantinople as U.S. minister.
Q 08An 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 09How 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 10Who 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 11Which 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 12What was Ben-Hur's 1959 production budget, the largest of any film to that point?
$15.175 million
It had started at $7 million; adjusted for inflation the final figure is about $168 million, and MGM bet the studio's survival on it.
Q 13Which 1956 Paramount hit inspired MGM to revive its long-stalled Ben-Hur remake?
The Ten Commandments
Q 21Which 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.
Q 22How 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 23In which Rome studio complex was Ben-Hur (1959) chiefly shot?
Cinecittà
MGM was in financial distress after losing its theater chains and needed a blockbuster; the DeMille epic showed biblical spectacle could still sell.
Q 14Why does the MGM lion stay silent at the start of Ben-Hur instead of doing its usual thing?
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 15Which star turned down the role of Ben-Hur saying he did not have the legs to wear a tunic?
Paul Newman
Lancaster called the script boring and belittling to Christianity, Brando and Hudson were also offered it, and Douglas wanted it but lost out to Heston.
Q 16Which Welsh actor won Best Supporting Actor for playing Sheik Ilderim?
Hugh Griffith
Griffith, a veteran of Ealing comedies, was only the second Welsh-born actor to win an Oscar after Ray Milland.
Q 17Which Northern Irish actor played Messala, winning a Golden Globe?
Stephen Boyd
Boyd had to wear brown contact lenses that irritated his eyes for months afterward, and called the shoot the most exciting experience of his life.
Q 18Which Israeli actress played Esther, becoming the first Israeli signed to a Hollywood studio contract?
Haya Harareet
She had debuted in Hill 24 Doesn't Answer, Israel's first feature film, and signed a multi-year deal with MGM.
Q 19Which 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 20In 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.
Pre-production began there around October 1957; the chariot arena set was among the largest ever built.
Q 24Roughly how long is the film's chariot race sequence?
Nine minutes
Second-unit directors Andrew Marton and a stunt legend shot it; the arena was modeled on a historic circus in Jerusalem.
Q 25Which 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 26Which 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 27What breed of horses played Ben-Hur's 'Arabian' team in the chariot race?
Andalusians
The rival teams were mostly Lipizzans; 78 horses were imported from Yugoslavia and Sicily and trained for months.
Q 28Which stunt legend did Wyler bring in to protect the horses after 100 died on the 1925 film?
Yakima Canutt
Canutt co-directed the race with Andrew Marton; a vet, a harness maker and 20 stable boys tended the horses daily.
Q 29How many horses were used in the making of the 1959 film, according to MGM?
2,500
Plus more than 200 camels and some 10,000 extras; the costume department made over 100,000 costumes and 1,000 suits of armor.
Q 30Who 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.