Roman Rust

On yesterday's walk I came across a rather plain rusty iron, six bar gate that reminded me of Roman armour.  It is now thought that on a long campaign the legionaries would let their armour rust a little and then rub it with some oil.  This would have created a solid rust and iron patina that would protect the iron underneath from further corrosion.  The shiny 'lorica segmantata' [the armoured segmented tunic] seen on films, such as Gladiator, would only have been seen where the legionary had the time to clean and polish the armour.