  We investigate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the staggered Dirac
operator in the vicinity of the chiral phase transition of quenched SU(3)
lattice gauge theory. We consider both the global features of the spectrum and
the local correlations. In the chirally symmetric phase, the local correlations
in the bulk of the spectrum are still described by random matrix theory, and we
investigate the dependence of the bulk Thouless energy on the simulation
parameters. At and above the critical point, the properties of the low-lying
Dirac eigenvalues depend on the $Z_3$-phase of the Polyakov loop. In the real
phase, they are no longer described by chiral random matrix theory. We also
investigate the localization properties of the Dirac eigenvectors in the
different $Z_3$-phases.
