Student Hazel Tan discovers that there are many similarities between ancient Romans and modern Singaporeans when it comes to property, water and roads.

When Mr Oon Chin Hin, 38, was in south Italy for a holiday with his wife last December, they paid a visit to Pompeii, an ancient Roman town that was destroyed on August 24, 79CE, due to an abrupt volcanic eruption. What caught him by surprise was how houses that were built more than 2,000 years ago by the Pompeiians, bore an uncanny resemblance to houses that had been built in Singapore’ s colonial times.

The town, which had been buried six metres deep under volcanic ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, was entirely preserved. Excavation expeditions on Pompeii began in the 18th century.

“Walk into a house in Pompeii, and you will find yourself in one of those houses we had in Singapore during the 70s and 80s,” exclaimed the researcher, who could hardly contain the incredulity in his voice.

“Can you imagine? Walls were already made out of bricks more than 2,000 years ago. They also lined their floor with mosaic tiles like houses did in the 70s in Singapore,” said Mr Oon, who had always wanted to visit Pompeii as he saw it as a place that had been frozen in time.

Judging by the ongoing exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore, there is no doubt that there was indeed a variety of houses that used to exist in Pompeii. They ranged from what seem to be like apartments to terrace houses and shop houses to villa-farms and luxurious villas. The atrium, which is the oldest form of domestic dwelling in Italy, resembles Mr Oon’s description the most.

Atriums were specially designed with no doors so passers-by could look into the houses to admire the furnishings of the owner’ s abode. The more elaborate the decorations, the richer the owners were. Guests would be greeted with a compluvium, a courtyard with an open roof, similar to Peranakam style houses that can still be found in Singapore today. This was not built purely for ornamental purposes but was designed to collect rainwater by allowing it in through the open roof to be channelled into an impluvium, which was a 30cm deep hole in the floor of the atrium. This water was then channelled into a cistern where the Pompeiians could use for their daily activities such as washing and cleaning.

Even then in 18 B.C.E, the Romans who conquered Pompeii understood the importance of having clean water. The town was furnished with a new water system under their rule in early first century CE: the invention of an aqueduct system, a water supply system that was unsurpassed for almost over a thousand years. The aqueduct system was laid in the hills 40 kilometres along the outskirts of Pompeii, from the springs of Acquaro, near Serino.

According to Dr. Domenico Esposito, who is currently a consultant for the Archaeological Superintendence of Pompeii and who has done several excavations at the site, the brilliant Roman engineers transported the water by canalising it from the mountains surrounding the valley around Mount Vesusvius to Pompeii.

“A huge circular water tank was built and was sent into three pipes to supply water to public fountains, baths and houses of rich people. To channel water into these pipes, canals were built on higher ground,” explained Dr. Esposito, who calls Pompeii his “ first love” and regards the ancient city a place that he “ simply feels in harmony with”.

The Romans loved water so much that taking a thermal bath (which similar to what one might do in a spa in modern-day Singapore) was considered “ entertainment” to them, says Mdm Siou Eng, 60, who is a volunteer guide at the museum.

“Some public bathing places provided separate places for men and women to bathe, but if they did not, women would bath in the morning and the men in the afternoon,” said the retiree, who went to Pompeii 15 years ago when she visited Naples with her friends.

The Pompeiians’ choice of “ soap” was olive oil, which they would rub on to their bodies before and after a bath. They would work out before bathing to purge the dirt from their bodies. After exercising, they would scrape the oil and sweat off their skin with a strigil, a curved tool that resembled a hook.

Other than similarities in Pompeii’ s property architecture and water system, there were also similarities in the way they built the network of their roads.

According to Mr Pak-Juan Koe, 48, another volunteer guide at the National Museum of Singapore, the roads in Pompeii were well-planned. Mdm Siou Eng suggested that this similarity arose because Singapore was colonised by the English, who were first influenced by the Romans.

“They had a main artery and had other smaller roads that were connected to them perpendicularly, so they had perpendicular crossroads,” said Mr Koe, who had also visited Pompeii four years ago.

Dr Esposito agrees. “ The similarities show that even though we are 2000 years apart, we were made in such a way to think the same way and behave the same way, so that’ s why the solutions to our problems are all similar, and that’ s why Pompeii resembles a modern city,”

Hazel Tan is a Year 2 student at the School of Film & Media Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Pompeii: Life in a Roman Town is on at the National Museum of Singapore. The exhibition closes this weekend so it’s your last chance to catch it! Free admission from today until the end!