They aren't literal though - they are representative characters, you have to be kidding yourself if you think they were real people.

Hell, if you even beleive they were 'people' then you missed the point.

~ There is nothing new in the Story of Jesus it's just a rehash of old Egyptian Pagan beliefs. It was thousands of years old by the time Christians got a hold of it.

About two thousand years before the Christian era Mut-em-ua, the virgin Queen of Egypt, was said to have given birth to the Pharaoh Amenkept (or Amenophis) III, who built the temple of Luxor, on the walls of which were represented:-

1. The Annunciation: the god Taht announcing to the virgin Queen that she is about to become a mother.

2. The Immaculate Conception: the god Kneph (the Holy Spirit) mystically impregnating the virgin by holding a cross, the symbol of life, to her mouth.

3. The Birth of the Man-god.

4. The Adoration of the newly born infant by gods and men, including three kings (or Magi ?), who are offering him gifts. In this sculpture the cross again appears as a symbol.

nuff said

Source: The Virgin Birth Doctrine By Jocelyn Rhys - 1922