Rusty Smith, age 11, of Mill Valley, California, for his question:

Exactly when was the Trojan War?

Archeologists now think that this ten year war was waged from 1240 to 1230 B.C. Some 500 years after the cruel siege and sacking of ancient Troy, the event was immortalized by the Greek poet Homer. His Iliad and Odyssey survived because he told spellbinding stories in spellbinding epic poetry. The true facts were clarified in the past century, after the sad ruins of Troy were unearthed.

In past civilizations, the glorified heroes were kings and warriors. Hence, most recorded history is dramatized with warfare. One of the earliest wars occurred when Greek city states sent kings and heroes to raze King Priam's walled city of Troy. History has disguised this bloody conflict with tales of glamorous Helen and fearless fighters, plus some gods and goddesses to add a touch of magic.

This is how the poet Homer told the story, some 2800 years ago. His epic Iliad enhances the deeds of Greek and Trojan heroes. In enchanting poetry, its 24 books detail 54 days of the ten year war. Until a century ago, historians merely identified the possible site of ancient Troy. It was, they thought, the Turkish village of Bunabashi, near the Dardanelles Strait.

Then a German amateur archeologist named Heinrich Schliemann set about finding the facts behind the old story. He and his Greek wife consulted Homer's geographic details to find a more likely site. They selected a mound called Hissarlik, meaning the place of fortresses. It is much closer to the Dardanelles, which was a stretegic junction in the maze of ancient trade routes.

Excavations proved that Hissarlik was occupied through at least 5,000 years. In the mound, nine layers of buried evidence told the story of nine Troys, all destroyed and rebuilt in ancient times. In layer VI, the Schliemanns found gold and ivory treasures and supposed this to be the ruins of King Priam's Troy. But it turned out to be 1,000 years older and the city that left the treasure was destroyed by earthquake.

The ruins of the massive walls described by Homer were found in layer VII. The debris also held evidence that this city had been brutally sacked and burned. Archeologists agree that this layer is the ruin of Priam's Troy. They dated the debris and set the tragic end of the Trojan War at about 1230 B.C.

Historians also re evaluated the cruel story. Troy's strategic site may have threatened the ancient trade routes. Perhaps runaway Helen merely gave the Greek states an excuse to raze the rich city fortress.

In any case, history has glamorized countless wars that actually were fought for power and plunder. Now and then, enlightened persons tried to point out the senseless cruelty of warfare. And at long last, a lot of ordinary folk in many lands are beginning to understand that human problems cannot be solved by brutal fighting. If this sane understanding grows, multitudes of those ordinary folk will quietly close history's old chapter on war    and write a new page about peace.