ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly surveys some of the material and literary evidence for pearls in antiquity. It also examines aspects of the pearl trade, which was a significant operation throughout the ancient world. The chapter argues that pearls embodied both economic capital and what Pierre Bourdieu terms 'symbolic capital'. The pecuniary significance of pearls underlies their symbolic value, whether it is positive or negative. Assessments and uses of pearls are therefore determined partially by the fact that material and economic characteristics were linked to ideological and theological imports. The critique of effeminacy, and worries about "Eastern" influences, constitute some of the values that pearls connoted in the West, but the perceived role of pearls in the economic life and culture of the city or region cannot be ignored. Sensitivities to the financial importance of these stones, whether real or alleged, their importance in local and regional flourishing or decline, and in the everyday practices and dispositions of people.
