Pontus (Greek: Πόντος) is a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea. Pontos (the main) following the exploration an the colonization of the Anatolian and other Black Sea cities by the Ionian Greeks beginning about the end of the Greek Dark Ages. The name eventually became more specific to the area of northeast Anatolia in late classical times. In modern Greek it can refer to either. Today it is located in Turkey.