HOnestly I think that with a little bit of research, you could find the answers to this. The information is not difficult to find on the net. www.roman-empire.net/children/gods.html www.crystalinks.com/romegods.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_mythology Were they real? Well, they haven't been seen or heard from since the fall of the Roman Empire, so you draw your conclusions...The Roman gods were the original tribal gods of the city of Rome. As Rome became stronger and more influential, it forced other communities to worship its gods. The influence of Roman traditional religion began to decline around the time of Christ. There seems to have been a lot of dissatisfaction with the system, and a lot of "mystery religions" were being followed, which offered their followers a more personal relationship with a god. Examples of this are the mysteries of Isis and Mithraism. Christianity was also lumped in with the mystery religions by the roman authorities, because, like the mystery religions, it discouraged people from worshipping the Roman gods, and the Emperors. As time went on, in the 2nd and third centuries, Christianity spread like wildfire throughout the empire. The emperors tried to wipe it out, but could not. Some began to tolerate it. Finally in the early 300s Constantine legitimised it. The other "mystery religions" gradually lost ground, probably because they were centred on a particular part of society (Isis was a woman's goddess; Mithras was the god of soldiers). By 410 when Rome fell, Christianity was very strong indeed, and held on, taking ground even faster once the roman authorities were not longer there to force roman religion. So, after the fall of Rome, most communities either reverted to their old gods, or accepted Christianity.

-Like all the "gods" in known history, they were an answer to the unknown, and a good way for a man or group to maintain control over a large population. Being the person or people that are the go between to the "Big Guy", makes you very important and powerfull. Around X-mas time kids are on their best behavior when told by their parents that Santa is watching. -They are as real as the individual allows them to be. When my son realized Santa was an idea not a fact, he still couldn't wait for the Tooth Fairy to come. -Like most imaginary friends children create to fill voids, people eventually depend on the undependable less and less.