★This book has won the "Best Popular Academic Book Award" from the Slovenian Historical Society and has been listed as an auxiliary reading material for the "Asian History" and "Religious Dialogue" courses at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Maribor.
★Dragan Potočnik is a representative figure in the study of Asian history in Slovenia. He is an associate professor at the Department of History of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Maribor and has long been dedicated to the research of the history and culture of Asia, Africa and the Islamic world.
★In the 2008/09 academic year, Dragan Potočnik taught at the University of Isfahan as a visiting professor for a whole semester. Since then, he has visited almost every year. He brought back lecture notes, field notes and a large amount of first-hand materials in Persian and English to Slovenia and wrote this comprehensive monograph that is "both like a travel story and a textbook", aiming to fill the gap in Slovenian-language books on "Iranian history + cultural guide".
★English sample pages are available for review.

This richly illustrated and comprehensive monograph lifts the veil on the legendary ancient Persian Empire. Iran, once known as Persia, has long been synonymous with "abundance": spiritual richness and measurable wealth alike shine brightly. However, in recent decades, this land has become increasingly obscure in the Western eye.

The author, Dragan Potočnik, is well-versed in Iran's history, culture, and present: in the autumn and winter of 2008/09, he taught as a visiting professor at Isfahan University and has since returned frequently, making him the most familiar and critical "insider" chronicler. In the book, he not only combs through Iran's millennia-long grand history but also details its natural and cultural wonders; he depicts customs and daily life, and shares the personal stories that emerged from his many travels.

This book is aimed at history students, backpackers, and all those attracted by Iran's mystery and excellence.

Dragan Potočnik

Currently an associate professor in the Department of History at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Maribor, he remains more passionate about accumulating first-hand experience and academic insights through personal fieldwork. The first volume of his four-part series explains the birth and large-scale expansion of Islam, the flourishing of Islamic civilization, the subsequent colonial process, and the formation of modern states in the region. The author highlights the outstanding contributions of Islam to the world's artistic and scientific treasures and clarifies its legacy in philosophy, literature, natural sciences, and medicine. He elaborates on Persian civilization in rich language, conducting a comprehensive and systematic examination. This work is renowned for its interesting and rich language structure, while its text is also imbued with the romantic spirit of Persian lyric poetry.

His research areas include Islamic civilization, Persian culture, non-Eurocentric historical narratives, and multicultural perspectives in history teaching. In addition to academic works, he has also published two poetry collections, a short story collection, and several historical novels, demonstrating his profound humanistic qualities and interdisciplinary writing abilities.