His name was Papas the Son of Cillis. He lived nearly 2,000 years ago, and it’s likely he would be mighty surprised at what James Russell has learned about his life.

Mr. Russell knows that Papas was an Anatolian who enlisted as an auxiliary in the Roman legions, serving in outposts of the empire for 25 mostly peaceful years. The auxiliaries were second-class soldiers who were natives of distant provinces that the Romans had conquered; Roman citizens served as prestigious legionaries.

Toward the end of his enlistment, Papas’ regiment was sent to Judaea to help put down an uprising by the Jews. When he was honorably discharged, he was given Roman citizenship, as were all auxiliaries.

“The Romans would have recruited him as a young man,” Mr. Russell said. “They would have said, ‘You have put up a good show against us, and we can give you a career. We will feed you, and pay you, and, at the end of the day, we will give you citizenship.’ ”

Papas returned home to his province to live out his life with his four children, who also were granted Roman citizenship, which would have set them on the path of upward social and political mobility.

Mr. Russell, an archaeologist and professor emeritus in the department of classics at the University of British Columbia, speaks about Papas as if he were an old friend. And, indeed, it must seem that way. The scholar has spent perhaps a decade tracing the life of the ancient Anatolian from information inscribed in Latin on a fragment of a bronze tablet, which was found in the rugged hills of Southern Turkey. Mr. Russell was given the fragment by farmers who uncovered it not far from his main archaeological site, the coastal Romano-Byzantine city of Anemurium.

It is a fascinating tale, one that Mr. Russell will recount as the guest speaker of the Archaeological Institute of America — Worcester Society at 7 p.m., Thursday at the Worcester Art Museum. The scholar, a native of Scotland who immigrated to Canada, has served as president of the AIA, the AIA-Canada and the AIA-Vancouver society.

His topic couldn’t be more timely, what with the popularity of the HBO series “Rome,” which is set in the waning days of the Roman Republic, just before Papas walked the Earth.

The Higgins Armory Museum, naturally, has its own story of Roman times. Andy Volpe will bring to life his alter ego, a Roman legionary, at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 6 and Nov. 20 at the museum’s glass and steel building at 100 Barber Ave. in Worcester. Mr. Volpe’s 45-minute presentation covers the development of the Roman legions and the life of a soldier in AD 40 to 70. It includes a show-and-tell on the legionaries’ arms and armor.

But back to Mr. Russell and how he traced Papas’ life history.

The archaeologist worked backward from the substantial number of facts recorded on the tablet, including the date it was issued and the names of the emperor and the consuls for that year.

Also inscribed are Papas’ native province and the names of the commanding officers of his regiment, as well as the names of members of his family, including his children.

“You say, ‘What was happening in that part of the world when he was recruited and enrolled?’ Mr. Russell said. “Emperor Trajan was mounting a campaign in the East. We know from stone inscriptions where his regiment was. We can trace its movements from Syria to Egypt to Judaea.”

It seemed straightforward enough until Mr. Russell remarked that he had discovered the regiment had been in Egypt from hieroglyphics on two papyri. “Our kind of scholarship is sort of serendipitous,” he remarked.

Becoming an auxiliary in the Roman legions was a good job for a young man with wanderlust; the auxiliaries were shipped out to defend the empire’s frontiers. They quickly learned to speak — and even read and write — Latin. With those skills, an auxiliary could rise to the rank of sergeant. Papas gave at least two of his children Roman names, probably in honor of favorite centurions, who were battlefield officers in command of 80 men each. “I speculate he was sucking up,” Mr. Russell said, laughing.

Papas was close to retirement when his regiment shipped out to Judaea.

“War, of course, was the thing that spoiled it for these guys,” Mr. Russell said. “This guy would have been involved in a terrible campaign. Soldiers suffered in heat and ambushes. The countryside was devastated and the Romans were hated.”

Around AD 136 or 137, Papas was discharged and headed back home.

Which, Mr. Russell surmised, may be why he was given the bronze tablet that has provided the clues to the story of his life. Such a tablet served as a passport. It was, however, labor intensive and expensive to produce. Sixty-five percent of the auxiliaries remained in the provinces in which they were discharged and would not have needed a passport.

It seems Papas the Son of Cillis was an exception — even back then.