I am trying to imagine the building,how it looked, how it functioned etc,basically any information on it.

Hello.

I was in the middle of a discussion with a friend, when the subject of the history of marriage arose. (Note: he has an extensive knowledge of religious history as a devout Evangelical Christian. I am an agnostic who has no historical training.)

I stated my belief that marriage is not an institution based on religious tradition, and that I believe that it existed long before it was associated with any religion.

He countered with the most interesting questions, which stumped me. /r/askhistorians, I need you to point me to legitimate resources to answer these:

1. Has not both religion and marriage existed from the beginning of civilization?
2. Has there been any societally accepted marriage practices both historically and around the world that have not been religious in nature and language?

Thank you.

If not, what word was used by the Germans themselves during WW2 for "a member of NSDAP"?

I was watching this episode of this TV-show and the people from the US (the rich elite) were lined up rather close to the battle having a picnic. Did the population really think of the Confederated Army as mere rebels that would be beat down in a couple of battles? (I am from Europe and we haven't learned about the US other than the railway in History Class.)

Cavalry were obviously active in 1914 before trench warfare really took hold, and again in the 100 days of 1918, but what did they do in between during periods of trench warfare when infantry assaults were mostly the norm?

It's in the title.

I'm reading Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy, which, aside from some obvious biases, is quite enjoyable. In it, he talks about some ancient Greek philosophers. He mentions some who purportedly wrote a ton of books, with one penning some 75 texts. However, no copies of these have survived.

I'm wondering if this number can be at all considered accurate, and, if so, what the editing process would have looked like back then and how long these books would be.

On land, humans have domesticated numerous animals and a large number of these (horses, donkeys, camels, elephants, various types of cattle, etc) are used for transporting goods and people. Have there been historical attempts at domesticating marine mammals or large fish to pull boats in a manner similar to carts/chariots on land?

How did the Hebrew/Jewish idea of Yahweh evolve? Was this a regional invention, or does this god have its cultural roots elsewhere?

Recommended reading, podcasts, research materials are more than welcome!

When discussing about the sharia with my Muslim friends, many of them refer to the Spanish region Andalusia where people from all faiths lived in harmony a few hundred years ago.

But how good was it? Was is really a paradise from which modern Western counties should take note or is Western-Europe nowadays a much better place?

Thanks

it seems to me that gas would be useless when they invented gas masks because you could just put it on and not worry about poison gas

Also, how quickly did people embrace forecasts? Were they placed in newspapers right after their development? Were they trusted?

From my understanding, 'SDI' was not actually feasible as originally envisioned in the 1980s, because of technological limitations of the time. Did the military continue spending on the program as a political tool, or was it vastly less influential then popularly assumed?

Did they shovel? How did they get their carriages to move around? Did they understand that salt melted ice?