Why do they both have a version of the Trojan Horse myth?

The Trojan Horse is one of the most famous stories from Greek mythology, and it has been retold and adapted many times throughout history. One of the most interesting things about the Trojan Horse myth is that there are both Greek and Roman versions of the story, and they differ in some key ways.

In the Greek version of the story, the Trojan Horse was a clever ruse devised by the Greeks to infiltrate the city of Troy during the Trojan War. The Greeks built a giant wooden horse and left it outside the city walls as an offering to the gods. The Trojans, believing it to be a gift, brought the horse inside the city walls. But hidden inside the horse were Greek soldiers, who emerged in the middle of the night and opened the city gates to the rest of the Greek army, which had been waiting outside the walls. The Greeks then sacked the city and claimed victory in the war.

In the Roman version of the story, the Trojan Horse is still a clever ruse, but it is not the Greeks who come up with the idea. Instead, the Romans are the ones who use the Trojan Horse to defeat their enemies. According to the Roman version of the myth, the Trojan Horse was built by the Etruscans, who were allies of the Trojans. The Etruscans gave the horse to the Trojans as a gift, but it was actually a trap. The Roman soldiers hiding inside the horse emerged at night and defeated the Trojans, just as in the Greek version of the story.

So why do both the Greeks and the Romans have a version of the Trojan Horse myth? One theory is that the Romans were heavily influenced by Greek culture and mythology, and they adopted many of the Greek myths and legends as their own. The Trojan War was a central event in Greek mythology, and the story of the Trojan Horse was one of the most famous parts of that legend. It's possible that the Romans simply saw the value in this story and decided to adopt it for themselves. Another theory is that the Romans wanted to connect their own history and mythology to that of the Greeks, who were seen as cultural and intellectual superiors in the ancient world.