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In the Bartimaeus trilogy, the main character is the eponymous djinni Bartimaeus, a demon/spirit from "the Other Place" who is cheeky, witty, boastful, and at times surprisingly deep.

Bartimaeus, however, is also the name of a man in the New Testament of the Bible. What's the connection there? Does the name in Jonathan Stroud's novels come from this Biblical Bartimaeus, or from somewhere else? Why?

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  • Could it be that Bartimaeus is metaphorically blind at the beginning of the trilogy, and is healed by the events of the books?
    – Peter Shor
    May 5, 2019 at 0:45
  • @PeterShor I can't see how to interpret it that way. Bartimaeus is by far the oldest and wisest of the main characters; if anything, his eye-opening occurred centuries earlier with Ptolemy. But if someone could make an argument to support that reading, I'd definitely be interested.
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    May 5, 2019 at 8:30

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