A little south of Samarra the stony plateau of Mesopotamia ends, and the alluvial plain of Irak, ancient Babylonia, begins.
It was from a remote period, antedating certainly 3000 B.C., the highway of empire and of commerce between east and west, more specifically between Babylonia or Irak and Syria, and numerous empires, peoples and civilizations have left their records on its shores.
His "Book of Kings" was completed in the year 260 of the Hegira, and was freely circulated in Khorasan and Irak.
Firdousi, to avoid further troubles, departed for Ahwaz, a province of the Persian Irak, and dedicated his Yusuf and Zuleikha to the governor of that district.
This is one of four similar Jewish shrines in Irak; the others being the tomb of Ezra on the Shatt el-Arab near Korna, the tomb of Ezekiel in the village of Kefil near Kufa, and the well of Daniel near Hillah.