The action takes place in the Black Sea, or the Pontus Euxinus, as it was called in antiquity. The King of Pontus, Mithridates Eupator, managed to unite into one state all the peoples living along its shores. He was Rome’s opponent and led all those who refused to accept Roman rule. The name Mithridates still belongs to a hill on the shore of the Kerch Strait, where, losing hope for the continuation of the war with Rome, he took his own life.