The formula <i>ana</i>/<i>ištu </i>sag-du-<i>šu</i>/<i>ši</i> in legal texts from Hittite Emar
The formula ana / ištu sag-du- šu / ši , “voluntarily; according to his/her will” represents a unique phenomenon within the legal tradition of the Late Bronze age Near East. The parallels to this formula are to be found only in the cuneiform texts of the 1st millennium BCE. The expression was limited at Emar to the texts of certain genres: the sales into slavery and the enslavements for debts. All the documents in which the formula is used belong to the Syro-Hittite format. From the formal point of view the expression rendered the consent of a person sold into slavery or enslaved for debts. However, most scholars agree that such a consent was no more than a juridical fiction and that the formula served different purposes. The scribes used several versions of the formula. These variants as well as the place of the formula in the structure of the documents are highlighted in the article.