Arrowhead

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is a bronze socketed trilobate (i.e., ‘three-bladed’) arrowhead. It was discovered on the surface at Shahr-i Qumis in northern Iran, which has been identified as the ancient city of Hecatompylos, established by the Parthians as their capital by about 200 B.C. In Greek Hecatompylos means ‘a hundred gates,’ suggesting that the city was quite large. Indeed, the modern archaeological site includes several mounds, only a few of which have been excavated, and a vast area covered with potsherds. Trilobate arrowheads were once associated with the Scythians and Cimmerians, nomadic peoples from the Eurasian steppe who invaded the Near East in the 8th century B.C. However, this type of arrowhead appears far and wide in space and time, indicating it was widely used in the ancient Near East, doubtless on account of its efficacy at piercing armor. Since Shahr-i Qumis was the site of a Parthian city, this arrowhead is most likely of Parthian date. The Parthians were famed in antiquity as archers, and gave their name to the ‘Parthian shot,’ a tactic in which a mounted archer rides away from his enemy while firing arrows at him.

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