the_cave

The Bartimaeus-Timotheus connection is interesting--may be another reference to Paul--maybe Timothy was a pre-Christian (or pre-Pauline) apostle for some salvific teaching or other, and this is supposed to link Paul to that--so Bartimaeus represents Paul's conversion from that to the Jesus group.

I think probably Bartimaeus is supposed to represent a historical personage (who probably was not named "Bartimaeus"), but it's hard to say.

I should also note at this point that Paul's sight does get healed by a specific person in Acts, namely: Ananias of "Damascus". Make of that what you will.

Malachi151

What I find interesting about Bartimaeus is that the use of this name fits a potential pattern with the author's use of Barabbas as well, in both cases the names being symbolic.

spamandham

Certainly that's possible. But is there any good reason to believe that the author of Mark wrote originally in Aramaic? I know that's church tradition, but is there anything of substance behind it?

Amaleq13

It isn't necessary for Andrew's point. All that is needed is the assumption (IIUC, it is a reasonable one) that his readers knew both languages in order to understand the double meaning. The text could still be written entirely in Greek.