How jewellery symbolised power - In the phoenician civilisation, there were many "classes". There was the lower class, upper class and then there were priests and even people that were believed to be gods. Each "class" had its own level of jewellery. This meant that, the more jewellery and personal ornaments you had, the more respectable and higher class you were. Upper class citizens wore bracelets, arm bands, and even developed what we now call bobby pins to hold their had in place. The bracelets consisted of very heavy bands of metal (ranging from 200 - 400 grams) and would sometimes be strings of beads. The woman of the upper class would usually wear 5 - 6 necklaces (each necklace being longer than the one before. These necklaces would be made of beads and pearls. Phoenicians also pierced their ears to make intricate earrings that often weighed a lot. As the priests were of a very high class, they would were long capes that were painted with designs. They would also were an extensive amount of necklaces, bracelets and arm bands. They would also wear large headdress' painted with delicate designs as well. The arm bands of the gods, were not however decorated at all. These arm bands were usually just metal bands that were wrapped around the arm. The only details on them were the fact that they had small inscriptions. For example there was one that had "Eteadoro to Papo basileos" written on it, which means 'The property of Etyander, king of Paphos' Men and woman of the "lower class" would only wear a slim fitting tunic that was made of cotton. They would not wear any type of jewellery as jewellery was a symbol of wealth and power, and the lower class did not have any. The phoenicians also sold and traded dyes to other civilisations to dye their robes. As there was a lot of purple dye in Lebanon, the phoenicians would often accidentally dye their skin as they made it to trade. This gave them the name "the purple people".
The role of jewellery for protection - When a phoenician person passed away, they would also be buried in the ground with small pieces of gold jewellery. This was so that the soul of the body would be well looked after and happy, and so they would not come and attempt to bother the living. This procedure was carried on for hundreds of years and some people are still buried with jewellery now (even if it isn't quite for the same reason). The jewellery was believed to protect the living people from being injured and traumatised by the dead.