Book first -- Into the desert -- Meeting of the wise men -- The Athenian speaks: faith -- Speech of the Hindoo: love -- The Egyptian's story: good works -- The Joppa gate -- Typical characters at the Joppa gate -- Joseph and Mary going to Bethlehem -- The cave at Bethlehem -- The light in the sky -- Christ is born -- The wise men arrive at Jerusalem -- The witnesses before Herod -- The wise men find the child -- Book second -- Jerusalem under the Romans -- Ben-Hur and Messala -- A Judean home -- The strange things Ben-Hur wants to know -- Rome and Israel: a comparison -- The accident to gratus -- A galley slave -- Book third -- Quintus Arrius goes to sea -- At the oar -- Arrius and Ben-Hur on deck -- "No. 60" -- The sea fight -- Arrius adopts Ben-Hur -- Book fourth -- Ben-Hur returns east -- On the Orontes -- The demand on Simonides -- Simonides and Esther -- The grove of Daphne -- The mulberries of Daphne -- The stadium in the grove -- The fountain of Castalia -- The chariot race discussed -- Ben-Hur hears of Christ -- The wise servant and his daughter -- A Roman orgy -- A driver for Ilderim's Arabs -- The dowar in the orchard of palms -- Balthasar impresses Ben-Hur -- Christ is coming: Balthasar -- The kingdom: spiritual or political? -- Book fifth -- Messala doffs his chaplet -- Ilderim's Arabs under the yoke -- The arts of Cleopatra -- Messala on guard -- Ilderim and Ben-Hur deliberate -- Training the four -- Simonides renders account -- Spiritual or political?: Simonides argues -- Esther and Ben-Hur -- Posted for the race -- Making the wagers -- The circus -- The start -- The race -- The invitation of Iras -- In the palace of Idernee -- Book sixth -- The tower of Antonia: cell no. VI -- The lepers -- Jerusalem again -- Ben-Hur at his father's gate -- The tomb above the king's garden -- A trick of Pilate's: the combat -- Book seventh -- Jerusalem goes out to a prophet -- Nooning by the pool: Iras -- The life of a soul -- Ben-Hur keeps watch with Iras -- At Bethabara -- Book eight -- Guests in the house of Hur -- Ben-Hur tells of the Nazarene -- The lepers leave their tomb -- The miracle -- Pilgrims to the Passover -- A serpent of the Nile -- Ben-Hur returns to Esther -- Gethsemane: "Whom seek ye?" -- The going to Calvary -- The crucifixion.
Summary
The story of a Jewish prince in the time of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Christianity who leads his people in a revolt against the Romans and suffers their punishment and a self-imposed exile before he learns to forgive.
