[SunkenCiv]

The vases showed they were made by a Messalla's slave. Indeed they were stamped with the Latin inscription "Hermia Va(leri) (M)arci s(ervus) fecit," meaning "Made by Hermias, slave of Marcus Valerius." [Laura Pagliantini]

[rightwingintelligentsia]

While Ben-Hur was a fictional villain

I thought Ben-Hur was the good guy? Or am I reading the article wrong?

[WayneS]

Can I lease it over Easter weekend?

[GreyFriar]

I thought that Ben Hur was the Hero of the book and that Marsella was the villian, not the reverse.

[MrB]

Ben-Hur’s rival, I have on good authority, was named

Ben-Hym.

[MHT]

I thought Ben Hur’s friend was Ben Him and their rival was Ben Gay!

[Vigilanteman]

Between 1,300 and 1,500 liters of wine is roughly 344 to 400 gallons. That's enough of a keg party to do any frat house proud.

And in just one vase.

[skinkinthegrass]

*

[Hugin]

and a commander at the battle of Actium in 31 B.C., fighting for Octavian against the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

Which means he would have been in his 80s or older around the time of the death of Christ, when Ben Hur takes place.

[Larry Lucido]

A nice little fixer-upper.

[dangus]

>> While Ben-Hur was a fictional villain ... <<

Uh, Judah Ben Hur was the good guy.

[sauropod]

.

[DannyTN]

Corvinus? Wasn't that the name of the original Vampire in the OtherWorld series.

[Varsity Flight]

“The vases showed they were made by a Messalla’s slave. Indeed they were stamped with the Latin inscription “Hermia Va(leri) (M)arci s(ervus) fecit,” meaning “Made by Hermias, slave of Marcus Valerius.” [Laura Pagliantini]”

Messalla = Body Mortgager, Exempt One

Hermia = Mortgage Exchange, Stamped and Registered.

Human Trafficking trading.

Note: today on the Worldwide EXCHANGE, it was noted that because the Euro yields so low that the pension funds will have to move out of Europe and go globally elsewhere for sufficient returns.....Guess where, and how the U.S. is using for securing.......Body Mortgage EXCHANGE.

[Prospero]

Messalla, of course, was the "bad guy," the boyhood friend and eventual betrayer of Judah Ben Hur in General Lew Wallace's "Tale of the Christ."

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

There is nothing to indicate any connection between this Messalla, a Roman family name, and the fictional friend of the equally fictional "Prince of Hur."

General Wallace's 1880 book is on my shortlist of books from the era I look forward to reading soon, though I'm hip deep in the prose of Henry James at the moment. I happened on this information after watching the 1959 remake, earlier this week on TCM.

Very reluctantly, I have to agree the chariot race in the Frances X. Bushman-starring silent was better staged (on the same set).

I know everyone will be happy as a clam to learn that yet another remake is being filmed as we think over these things, to be released in 2016. Morgan Freeman has been cast to play Sheik Ilderim.

More encouraging, I have to think, is that the big-budget big production team includes Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (who also made the recent miniseries The Bible). Hopefully they will not include a silent, faceless Christ, more in line with General Wallace's Tale.

Starring as Ben Hur will be John Huston's grandson Jack.

Down Eros, Up Mars!

[Ellendra]

Each vase could hold between 1,300 and 1,500 liters of wine.

I'm wondering about the kiln that fired those things!

[vetvetdoug]

Its good Lew Wallace could write. He took a day and a half to find an active battlefield with over a hundred thousand men trying to kill each other.

[Pollster1]

There is a 2014 Ben-Hur movie??? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoEtt0MFT60

There are also (legal) clips of the 1959 version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIC284e0AuE

It’s a good story, and the older version is a great movie. I’ll be interested in seeing what they learn over time from this villa, besides that wealthy Romans did some serious drinking.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I'm related to Francis X. Bushman who played Mesalla in the silent version of Ben Hur.

I didn't get his looks or physique...

[Fiji Hill]

Victor Davis Hanson, whose writings frequently appear on this site, has argued that Ben-Hur is really about the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, in which the author took part.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Ben Hur - starring John Candy in the title role;
( 24 minutes )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK4uTmwPC5o