The original Amazons of Greek mythology were fierce women warriors with a reputation for developing new outposts and conquering the competition.  From their HQ in Pontus, they successfully beat bigger armies and founded cities from Smyrna to Paphos.

Amazon.com is following in those ancient footsteps, finding new product lines every day and smashing e-commerce competitors along the way.

Is there anybody left in the world who doesn’t buy stuff through Amazon?  Seriously, Amazon has gone from being a sorta hip place to order a hard-to-find book to being an online Wal-Mart and shopping mall all wrapped into one.

If you want it, you can probably get it at Amazon.com.  And you can probably get a pretty good deal, too.  If you’re smart, you can shave a few bucks off that already agreeable bottom line by using an Amazon coupon code.

Which brings us to finding those coupon codes.  The good news?  They’re not that hard to find.  The bad news?  There isn’t any.  Really, they’re not that hard to find AND they can actually save you a substantial chunk of change.

Here are just a few of my Amazon coupon code finds.

Dealspl.us has Amazon codes that will save you money on everything from “Tuscan triangles” (whatever those might happen to be) to cans of Wolfgang Puck soups (I’m partial to the clam chowder) to a free MP3 download.

TechBargains reminds us of the free shipping offer on purchases in excess of $25 and promises markdowns of up to 70% when you’re buying home and garden items.

CouponCodesMall has a list that should put you and the Amazon coupon code of your choice together, lickety-split.  Oxygenics showerheads?  They have the code.  Tea of Life teas?  They have the code.  ZeroSmoke smoking cessation aids for those who are still puffing away?  You can grab a coupon code and save.  It’s an impressive list.

That list is really just the beginning, though.  The fine people behind CouponCodesMall have created an Amazon coupon code search engine (thanks to The Consumerist for the tip, by the way).

If you can use Google, you can find the code you need.  It doesn’t get much easier than that, does it?

Well, maybe.  Although it isn’t necessarily a price reduction code, Norman Stein has outlined a cool way to get discounts on Amazon products.  It involves loading up your cart and waiting for Amazon to apply special discounts via your gold box.  I haven’t tried it, but it sounds like a real winner.

I don’t really understand why Amazon is called Amazon.  Sure, the competition thing is sort of a shared trait as is the urge for expansion, but the similarities between the retailer and the warrior women of lore basically ends there.  All in all, Amazon.com is a pretty nice outfit.  They have a lot of stuff, they sell that stuff at good prices and their willing to subtract a few bucks from the total if you’re willing to dig up a coupon code.

NOTE: I know a guy who was in business school back in the day.  One of his assignments was to pick an up-and-coming little company that might get big and successful.  He had to break down the reasoning, etc. in a lengthy report.  Anyway, my friend picked this new book-vending outfit with a crazy name–Amazon.com.

He was so convinced that he was onto something big that he wanted to sink the few extra pennies he and his wife had at the time into Amazon as an investment.  She rejected the idea, reminding him that he was just a lowly b-school kid and that he was not (at least at that point) a stock analyst.

Whoops.