The story of Judah Ben-Hur is probably one of the most well known fictional accounts of first-century Judaism and Christianity. The story of Ben-Hur was originally written by Lew Wallace, an American army officer and governor of New Mexico, and published in 1880. Since then, it has experienced numerous stage adaptations and four film versions. The 1959 colour film (with Charlton Heston--see picture) won seven Academy Awards and is probably the version people are most familiar with today. In the book and film versions Ben-Hur turns from a Jewish aristocrat to a galley slave and eventually ends up as the adopted son of a high-standing Roman official. On the basis of recent scholarship on ancient Jewish slavery, the lecture will discuss the way in which Jewish slaves and slavery are presented in the film versions.

Catherine Hezser is a Professor of Jewish Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London). She organizes courses relating to modern and ancient Judaism and she is an author of many publications on the subject (the latest one is 'Jewish Slavery in Antiquity', 2005, Oxford University Press). Catherine has distinguished herself as a major expert in the social history of Jews in Roman Palestine in late antiquity, but she is also interested in in issues of modern Jewish identity and its literary expressions in Europe, America, and Israel. She is currently writing a book on Mobility and Communication in Ancient Judaism, based on research carried out at Tel Aviv University.