Horse bit with attached cheekpieces

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is a bronze bit for a horse. Two spiked bars, called canons, are liked by loops; these form the bit itself. Each canon is connected to a curved cheekpiece with a loop for the reins. One of the cheekpieces is intact, and its ends are decorated with a knob and a horse’s hoof. Fifteen bits, including this one, were excavated in the Treasury at Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, along with a variety of other pieces of military equipment. The spikes on this bit are especially cruel, and suggest a military function, as they would permit near absolute control on the part of the rider. Indeed, horses were an important aspect of Persian military power, and were thus often displayed in Achaemenid art, such as on the reliefs of Apadana at Persepolis.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.

Metropolitan Museum of Art