An investigation of lead pipes from Pompeii by optical microscopy, hardness testing and scanning electron microscopy is presented and the construction of the pipes is discussed. The evidence indicates that the grain refining produced by room-temperature hammering of the pipes did not result from a deliberate attempt to produce corrosion resistance. The corrosion (mainly lead oxide dominant where the final join was produced by the molten lead welding method) is of the intercrystalline type, proceeding along the straight planes of the grain boundaries between columnar grains but restricted where equiaxed grains are found. From the microstructures it is deduced that the molten lead had copper and zinc levels of 0.05% and 0.1%, respectively. -- AATA