The book is a typical humorous adventure novel for children. Its positive characters include scientists fascinated by dragons, a writer and a journalist, who ground their search on science and scientific research, even though they refer to a fictional discipline – dragonology. The researchers believe that the dragons present in myths, legends, poems and tales for children in many cultures became an endangered species, exterminated during the middle ages because at that time, there were no rules for preserving the environment. The research is to lead to the discovery of Smokonia – Dragonland, from where the Wawel Dragon’s grandfather came. A sheet showing the outline of an island situated by the Very Blue Sea was found in the book What I Know About My Family, written by the Wawel Dragon. Meanwhile, one of the monastic treaties from the 17th century states that dragons once lived in Asia Minor, Ephesus, Antakya and Rhodes, which rises from very blue waters of the sea; this information suggests to the researchers a Mediterranean direction. Before leaving for Rhodes, the narrator searches the Jagiellonian library for research papers on the history of Greek and Hellenic culture.
The references to Antiquity are not overly abundant. Since the story arc partially takes place in Greece, most of these references relate to places visited by the characters, for example in Athens: although the travelers do not have time for sightseeing, the Acropolis and the Theatre of Dionysus are both named. Similarly, as they are about to go to Crete, the author presents it as the homeland of the Minotaur, who, according to dragonologists, was likely to be a member of a species of man-eating dragons fond of "imported goods" – the tribute of 7 girls and 7 boys from Athens. Pagaczewski also mentions the myth of the labyrinth built by Daedalus, and of Theseus, who managed to escape it with Ariadne’s help. The travellers find a special stone on Rhodes, and it turns out to be a dragon’s tooth of the family dracones maritimes; the dragonologists evoke the myth of Perseus, who, according to them, was to liberate Andromeda not by slaying a sea monster or a snake, but rather a dragon from this family.
Although the story arc revolves around dragons, there is also mention of the goddess Aphrodite when one of the secondary characters, a Frenchman, goes to Cyprus with his guitar. He is heading there for celebrations in honour of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, and promises to send a postcard to his girlfriend, which would say “not even she is as beautiful as you are”, following stereotypical French courtesy towards women, but also tells the child reader who Aphrodite was.
The references to Antiquity also appear in the linguistic layer – the use of metaphors and proper names. When the protagonists swim in the sea and sunbathe, the scenery is the same as in Antiquity: high in the sky under which Daedalus and Icarus once flew, the sun is shining – the sun that once beat down on Odysseus and his companions. As they drink orange juice after being rescued from the villains, they compare it to the nectar of Olympic gods, and the hotel to which they return is described to glisten like the gunmetal statue of Helios called the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Word. The author also uses proper names alluding to Antiquity: the professor who invites the members of the International Association for Dragons Research to the next congress carries the nomen omen, Drakopoulos (from Ancient Greek δράκων, drákōn – a dragon), and the shepherd, who frees the protagonists from restraints, is called "brave Andreios" (ἀνδρεῖος, andreîos – brave, courageous). The author also chose “Apollonius” to be the name of the hotel, usually used in conjunction with the name Rhodes, which is a clear reference to Apollonius of Rhodes.
