A "Parthian shot" is a cutting remark made while retreating. Its origin is with the Parthians, an ancient Persian people. These warriors were renowned for their skills as cavalry archers, and would often cover their own retreat with a burst of attack.
This detailed derivation makes it preferable to the alternative spelling, "Parting shot", which has the whiff of a mishearing about it. Confusingly the first recorded use of "Parthian shot" in modern English (in The Times in 1842), comes a little later than "Parting shot" (in a Quaker's document of 1828), but nevertheless we are of the opinion that the correct spelling for this figurative expression is "Parthian shot".
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