questions about marru

[sheshki]

hello all,
"The symbol of Marduk is a triangular-shaped spade or hoe, known as the marru, and may reflect Marduk's origin as a local Babylonian agricultural deity." (taken from ancientneareast.net)
i have some questions about this marru symbol. does anyone know when this symbol was indentified as a spade or hoe?and why was it identified as such? i mean, if its a spade it stands upside down....i searched across the internet for pictures of the marduk symbol.
www.herbst9.de/mov/marru.jpg
on this image i collected them, and when i look at that picture those symbols remind me to mushrooms. what do you think?could this be possible?
i mean, mushrooms are sacred parts of cults in some old religions. why not here in mesopotamia?
so i think it would be important to know when it was identified as spade because maybe it was in a time when it was absolutly impossible to think about psychoactive drugs in relation to religion.

greetings

f

[saharda]

Honestly I doubt greatly that they are mushrooms. Might be a spear if it isn't a spade. It looks a great deal like one in many respects, right down to the marks under what would be the tip of the spear as a spear head would need to be fixed to the shaft.

On the subject of drugs however, opium wasn't unknown in this day, and I believe I heard something about a psychoactive that could be made out of scorpion venom.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Hey Sheshki:

Its not very easy to get perspective on iconography sometimes, but I have read one or two points I'll note here so that we might work toward a complete picture.

Glanceing through Pritchards 'The Ancient Near East In Pictures' there are several Kudurru stones which feature the marru as symbole of marduk alongisde other symbals - the symbol is similiarly pictured on the Lamashtu plaque currently held at the Louvre (shown at the bottom on the vampire thread.)
Pritchard refers the read to a book by E.D. van Buren "Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art" for an explanation of this symbol, which I dont have.

In Wiggermann's "Mesopotamian Protective Spirits" pg.86 the marru is mentioned as a symbol sometimes held by the Lahmu on reliefs from palace walls.

"marru, "spade", held by the lahmu. The spade is held by the lahmu in the palace reliefs (Kolbe Reliefprogramme Type XIV, 102f, 105) and in the Klienplastik (Rittig Klienplastik 51ff., 60ff, Green Iraq 45 91f.) The spade is a well known symbol of Marduk (seidl BaM 4 117f. Deller OrNS 53 124). and its precense here is probably to be judged in the same way as the presence of the niphu and the uskaru in the outer gate, and the uskaru inthe hands of the uridimmu: it puts the house under the protection of Marduk and thus deters evil."

However known that Ive looked over have yet offered explanations of why the Marru is the Symbol of Marduk or even what its supposed to depict though it is periodacally called a "spade". Still looking -