Were Sri Rama or Jesus Christ real?

Someone asked me yesterday if Ram was real or was he just a figment of imagination? I feel that in older times (and I am talking about thousands of years back) when civilizations had just strated and people were unruly and uncultured, the authorities needed some way of controlling the layman. They created the fear of God and started scaring people that if they dont abide by the laws then they will be punished by a superpower named God.
This worked for some time but then it became to decide upon how God should punish and whom God should punish? All the learned men gathered and decided to write down the rules of behavior and interaction with others. The writer went one step ahead and decided that he will tell it as a story so that people can relate to it and he will ahve one main protagonist whom he will create "Just Perfect!!!" This protagonist will also act as an ideal for all the human race and all should go by his example. Thus came the concept of individual Gods... everyone needed a God of their own caste and faith so that they can actually relate to him and have some hope of becoming good at heart.
The scriptures just told us ways of life. They taught us how to live and how to work and how to behave with others. Whether its Islam (Quran), Christanity(Bible) or Hinduism(Bhagwad Geeta, Mahabharataor other purans) , they all teach us something good but in this age and time we just interpret it wrong and try and hurt each other.
Ram and Christ might be real and maybe they were just very good human beings who led others by example and who were so perfect that they became Gods. If we look closer we will find God in ourselves !!!