Lorica Hamata being pierced by arrows

[Walhaz]

That was exactly my point, its not a matter of hyperbole or the well respected quality of a good soldiers armor but of what was available how well kept it was. I am sure a wealthy soldier had nigh indestructible armor for the time but what of the poor? How well would a repair really have held up? What could a new recruit who was poor really expect or be afforded when their were sparse but apparently better soldiers or wealthier ones?

It would not even need to be a matter of poorly-kept armor, although the points about the potential quality of Crassus' army made in this thread are well taken. Even if the armor was of the best quality, dealing with so many arrows over the course of the day would have degraded the armor even if the troops had maintained it that morning. Simply put, the aggregate damage sustained by the armor over the course of the day at Carrhae could not have been repaired, and eventually armor would have started failing.