the interior and above-deck scenes. Two long Roman galleys, each of them seaworthy, were built for the live-action segment. The ships were constructed based on plans found in Italian museums for actual ancient Roman galleys. An artificial lake with equipment capable of generating sea-sized waves was built at the Cinecittà studios to accommodate the galleys. A massive backdrop, wide by high, was painted and erected to hide the city and hills in the background. Third unit director Richard Thorpe was hired on July 17, 1958, at the request of William Wyler to film the above-decks sequences, but a directing commitment back in the United States required him to leave the production with filming still incomplete. Dunning says he then directed most of the below-decks scenes, including the sequence in which Quintus Arrius' flagship is rammed. To make the scene bloodier, Dunning sought out Italian extras who had missing limbs, then had the makeup crews rig them with fake bone and blood to make it appear as if they had lost a hand or leg during the battle. When Dunning edited his own footage later, he made sure that these men were not on screen for long so that audiences would be upset. The above-decks footage was integrated with the miniature work using process shots and traveling mattes. Dunning claimed to have directed most of the critical scene in which Quintus Arrius first confronts Judah Ben-Hur on the galley, as well as the following segment in which Arrius forces the slaves to row at high speed. Some of the dialogue in the scene, he says, was shot by Wyler, but most of the rest (including the high-speed rowing) was shot by Dunning himself. Dunning has stated that he spent several days on the high-speed rowing segment, shooting the sequence over and over from different angles to ensure that there was plenty of coverage. He then edited the immense amount of footage down to obtain a rough cut that matched the script, and then re-edited the footage to be more cinematic and work emotionally on screen. The galley sequence is one of the few scenes in the film which is not historically accurate, as the Roman navy (in contrast to its early modern counterparts) did not employ convicts as galley slaves. One of the most sumptuous sets was the villa of Quintus Arrius, which included 45 working fountains and of pipes. Wealthy