Ep 10: The Pythia - 100,000 to 0

... In our 10th episode we meet  The Pythia, perhaps Greece's most astonishing figure.  She served as Apollo's voice of prophesy.  And unsurprisingly, she was never wrong.

You may have heard her referred to as the Delphic Oracle, because she lived in Delphi, which the Greeks considered the center of the world

The Pythia was considered infallible, and indeed, for a period exceeding 1,000 years, she is never recorded as making a wrong prediction. Generals, politicians, tyrants and common men all relied on her counsel.

Narrated by mythologist and best-selling author, Patrick Garner,  Garner's Greek Mythology is unlike any other Greek history series.  Here these divine beings are viewed as if they were anything but mythical...

If you love these podcasts, you'll also enjoy new stories about the gods in Garner's novel Homo Divinitas, now available as an audio book on Amazon.com and Audible.com.

(Musical score includes selections from Fesliyan Studios and Free Sounds Library. Many thanks to both. In addition, thanks to "klankbeeld", freesound.org, Capella Ducis, Organ Axel Wenstedt, Cello Angela Heetvelt, and members of Scordatura.)

Transcript

Episode #10 ... THE PYTHIA, The Oracle Who Was Never Wrong

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DID YOU EVER SEE THE HOLLYWOOD MOVIE “BACK TO THE FUTURE”? MARTY McFLY, DOC, BIFF ... MARTY GETS AN EYEFUL, A REAL SNEAK PREVIEW OF COMING EVENTS.

TALK ABOUT KNOWING IN ADVANCE! ... IT WAS THE SAME WITH THE ANCIENT GREEKS. 

THEY DIDN'T HAVE A TIME MACHINE, THOUGH. THEY HAD AN ORACLE KNOWN AS THE PYTHIA. SHE WAS A PRIESTESS WHO CHANNELED THE PROPHESIES OF APOLLO. 

BUT THAT WAS ONLY THE HALF OF IT. HERE'S WHAT'S AMAZING: SHE DID THIS FOR 1,200 YEARS, AND WAS NEVER WRONG.

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WELCOME TO EPISODE 10 OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. I'M YOUR HOST, MYTHOLOGIST & BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, PATRICK GARNER.

TODAY WE BEGIN IN DELPHI, A SMALL TOWN THAT THE GREEKS CONSIDERED THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. FITTINGLY, IT WAS ALSO THE SPOT APOLLO CHOSE FOR PROPHECY ...

THERE, HE SPOKE THROUGH A PRIESTESS WHO ACTED AS HIS INTERMEDIARY.  SHE WAS KNOWN AS THE DELPHIC ORACLE, & ALL KNELT AT HER PRONOUNCEMENTS.

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DELPHI! ... IT WAS BELIEVED THAT ZEUS RELEASED TWO GOLDEN EAGLES FROM OLYMPIA. ONE FLEW EAST & ONE FLEW WEST ... WHERE THEY MET WAS THE OMPHALOS, THE EARTH'S CENTER.

DELPHI LAY ABOUT 75 MILES WEST OF ATHENS. A JOURNEY BY FOOT COULD TAKE DAYS OVER THE DIRT TRAILS THAT LED UP TO THE SLOPES OF MT. PARNASSUS.

AT OVER 900 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL, DELPHI BECAME THE MOST SACRED PRECINCT IN GREECE. THERE, THE ORIGINAL EARTH GODDESS, GAIA, GUARDED A MASSIVE SNAKE CALLED PYTHO ... 

ABOUT A 1,000 B.C., APOLLO CLAIMED DELPHI AS HIS OWN, KILLING THE SNAKE & DECLARING THE REGION HIS.

AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, KILLING ANY BEING IMPORTANT TO GAIA WOULD BE RISKY. BUT APOLLO GOT AWAY WITH IT ... 

PERHAPS GAIA FORESAW THAT THE PYTHIA WOULD BECOME FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PYTHO ...

REGARDLESS, BY THE TIME 500 YEARS HAD PASSED. DELPHI WAS AN IMMENSELY WEALTHY RELIGIOUS CENTER.

ITS IMPORTANCE WAS INCALCULABLE ... FOR THE GREEKS NOT ONLY WAS IT THE PHYSICAL CENTER OF THE EARTH, IT WAS THE SPIRITUAL EPICENTER.

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HERE'S HOW IT WORKED:

A LEADER WOULD CONSULT THE PYTHIA, ASKING, SHOULD ONE CITY ATTACK ANOTHER? ... OR, WOULD AN INVADING ARMY PREVAIL IN ITS ASSAULT? THE PYTHIA WOULD KNOW.

AND SO THE PYTHIA BECAME THEIR INFALLIBLE SOURCE FOR ... EVERYTHING WORTH KNOWING.

I SAY THIS, CONSCIOUS THAT WE HAVE NO ONE EVEN VAGUELY COMPARABLE. CAN YOU IMAGINE A MODERN COUNTRY PONDERING WHETHER TO INVADE ANOTHER, & FIRST CONSULTING AN ORACLE?

IT'S UNIMAGINABLE. WE'D MOCK ANY LEADER CAUGHT IN SUCH AN ACT ... 

HERE I’LL MAKE A SMALL ASIDE TO COMMENT ABOUT HOW TODAY WE CONTINUE TO BE SEDUCED BY THE ANCIENT GREEKS’  EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENTS — THEIR WRITING, THEIR ARTS & SCIENCE. 

WE THINK WE UNDERSTAND THEM ... IN SO MANY WAYS THEY SEEM NO DIFFERENT THAN US. BUT THEY WERE ... THEY WERE VERY, VERY DIFFERENT. 

IN GREECE, FOR WELL OVER A MILLENNIUM, ALL MAJOR POLITICAL & MILITARY DECISIONS WERE VETTED BY APOLLO'S PRIESTESS ... AND NO ONE DOUBTED WHATEVER SHE  FORECAST.

NO ONE QUESTIONED HER BECAUSE HER PROPHESIES WERE INVARIABLY CORRECT ... IMAGINE: 1,200 YEARS OF ERROR-FREE PREDICTIONS. 

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WHO WAS THE PYTHIA? WITHOUT EXCEPTION SHE WAS CHOSEN FROM ONE OF THE PRIESTESSES SERVING IN APOLLO'S TEMPLE. SHE WAS REQUIRED TO BE AT LEAST 50 YEARS OLD.

I NOTE HER AGE BECAUSE POPULAR ART ALWAYS DEPICTS HER AS A YOUNG WOMAN. BUT HISTORIANS OF THE TIME DESCRIBE HER DIFFERENTLY. 

SHE WOULD HAVE SERVED THE GOD FOR DECADES & BEEN IMMERSED IN THE ORACULAR LANGUAGE & TRADITION. 

SHE WOULD HAVE REPEATEDLY WATCHED THE FORMER PYTHIA VOICING APOLLO'S THOUGHTS.

SO WHEN SHE TOOK OVER THE SACRED OFFICE, SHE WAS SIMPLY ONE WOMAN IN AN ANCIENT LINE OF PYTHIAS.

ALL DRESSED AS MAIDENS, OFTEN BAREFOOT & WEARING A HEAD COVERING ... 

THEY HELD A BOWL WITH SACRED WATER IN ONE HAND, & A LAUREL BOUGH IN THE OTHER ... AS THEY LISTENED TO PETITIONERS FROM ACROSS THE REGION, THEY GAZED DOWN AS IF IN A TRANCE.

THERE WERE SPECIFIC RITUALS THAT EACH FOLLOWED ... FOR INSTANCE, SHE BATHED FIRST IN A SACRED SPRING. THEN SHE DRANK FROM BLESSÉD WATER. 

ONCE CLEANSED, THE PYTHIA ENTERED THE TEMPLE & DESCENDED INTO A CHAMBER. SOME SAID THE CHAMBER WAS SITUATED OVER AN ANCIENT FISSURE IN THE EARTH & THAT THE FISSURE EMITTED HALLUCINOGENIC GASES.

MODERN INSPECTION OF THE SITE HAS FAILED TO CONFIRM THIS ... REGARDLESS, WE KNOW THAT THE PYTHIA MOUNTED AN ORNATE TRIPOD WHERE SHE SAT IN WAIT.

BEFORE RECEIVING SUPPLICANTS, SHE CHEWED LAURAL LEAVES BECAUSE THE LAUREL WAS SACRED TO APOLLO. CHEWING THE LEAVES LET HIM KNOW SHE AWAITED INSTRUCTION ...

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ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS QUERIES CAME FROM THE KING OF THEBES. HIS WIFE WAS CHILDLESS, & HE ASKED, 'WILL I EVER HAVE A SON?' THE PYTHIA STATED, 'IF YOU HAVE A SON HE WILL KILL YOU.'

LATER, THE KING'S WIFE DELIVERED A SON & THE KING, DREADING THE PROPHESY, TOOK THE CHILD INTO THE HILLS & ABANDONED IT. 

SHEPHERDS FOUND THE BOY & RAISED HIM IN SECRET ... WHEN THE CHILD, WHOSE NAME WAS OEDIPUS, GREW TO MANHOOD, HE VISITED THE PYTHIA, ASKING, 'WHOSE SON AM I?'

HER RESPONSE WAS, 'DO NOT GO BACK TO YOUR NATIVE LAND. YOU ARE DESTINED TO KILL YOUR FATHER & ... MARRY YOUR MOTHER' ... 

CAN YOU IMAGINE RECEIVED THAT NEWS? OF COURSE THE PROPHESY WAS FULFILLED.

WE'VE SEEN THIS SON-KILLS-FATHER THEME BEFORE. AND THE PYTHIA ALWAYS KNEW WHEN THE THREAT WOULD REAR ITS HEAD AGAIN.

BUT APOLLO'S ORACLE DID NOT CONFINE HERSELF TO MATTERS OF WAR & MARRIAGE. OCCASIONALLY SHE WOULD SHOW HER DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF PHILOSOPHY & THOSE WHO PRACTICED THE ART.

FOR INSTANCE, SOCRATES, PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS PHILOSOPHER OF ALL TIME, HAD A FRIEND WHO APPROACHED THE PYTHIA WHEN SOCRATES WAS STILL QUITE YOUNG.

THE FRIEND ASKED THE PYTHIA IF THERE WAS A WISER MAN THAN SOCRATES IN ALL OF GREECE. SHE SAID SUCCINCTLY, 'THERE IS NO ONE WISER.'

SOCRATES LATER EXPLAINED THIS BY SAYING HE KNEW THAT HE KNEW NOTHING, WHEREAS OTHER MEN CLAIMED MASTERY OF THIS & THAT, WHILE KNOWING NO MORE THAN HE KNEW...

ACCORDING TO PLATO, SOCRATES’ WORDS WERE, “THE MORE I KNOW, THE MORE I REALIZE I KNOW NOTHING.” … ANOTHER SMART GUY NAMED, EINSTEIN, TWO MILLENNIA LATER WOULD WRITE, “THE MORE I LEARN, THE MORE I REALIZE HOW MUCH I DON’T KNOW.”

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ATHENS, VERY EARLY IN ITS HISTORY, LONG BEFORE ITS WAR WITH SPARTA, WAS HIT BY A MULTI-YEAR PLAGUE. FAMINE & DEATH SWEPT THE CITY.

THE LEADERS ASKED THE PYTHIA IF THE CITY COULD BE SAVED. SHE REPLIED, 'ONLY IF YOU SEND SEVEN OF YOUR SONS & SEVEN OF YOUR DAUGHTERS EVERY YEAR TO KING MINOS ON CRETE, WHERE HE WILL DO WITH THEM WHAT HE WISHES.'

AND SO IT WAS THAT ATHENS SACRIFICED 14 OF ITS CHILDREN EVERY YEAR. THEIR FATE WAS TO BE EATEN BY THE MINOTAUR, A MONSTER THAT WAS HALF-MAN & HALF-BULL ...

ALTHOUGH THE PLAGUE ENDED, THIS CRUELTY WENT ON FOR YEARS. FINALLY, THESEUS, ONE OF ATHEN'S EARLIEST HEROES, KILLED THE MINOTAUR WITH THE HELP OF THE KING'S OWN DAUGHTER, ARIADNE ...

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ARIADNE, WHO BECAME THE GOD DIONYSOS' WIFE, PLAYS A ROLE IN MY BOOK, "HOMO DIVINITAS." IT'S ONE OF TWO LOVE STORIES THAT PROPEL THE BOOK FORWARD ...

AND 2,000 YEARS AGO, STORIES LIKE THAT OF THESEUS REINFORCED GREECE'S IMAGE OF ITSELF. NO OTHER REGION WAS AS CIVILIZED, AS RICH WITH FANTASTIC TALES OF GODS & MAN.

YET NOTHING COMPARED TO THE IMPORTANCE OF APOLLO'S ORACLE ... 

WHY DO I SAY THAT? SHE WAS IRREPLACEABLE, YET SHE WAS CONSTANTLY REPLACED BY NEW PYTHIAS ... REMEMBER? THERE MAY HAVE BEEN AS MANY AS 60 IN ALL.

SHE WAS OLD & YET SHE DRESSED AS IF SHE WERE STILL A GIRL. SHE SAT ABOVE HER SUPPLICANTS AS IF ON A THRONE. 

YET SHE WAS NOTHING HERSELF AS SHE WAS NO MORE THAN APOLLO'S VOICE.

BUT HERE'S WHAT'S UTTERLY UNIQUE: SHE PROPHESIED FOR OVER A 1,000 YEARS & WE HAVE NO RECORD THAT SHE WAS EVER WRONG.

LET'S DO THE MATH: THIS SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GOD WAS CONSULTED 100s OF TIMES A YEAR. IF THIS WENT ON FOR A 1,000 YEARS, SHE WOULD HAVE MADE WELL OVER 100,000 PROPHESIES.

THAT'S AN ASTOUNDING NUMBER. YET, WE HAVE NO RECORD THAT SHE WAS EVER WRONG ... 

AND SO HER REPUTATION GREW ...

THERE WERE MEN WHO TRIED TO TRICK HER, ASKING HER TO SOLVE PROBLEMS THAT DIDN'T EXIST, OR TO PREDICT THE FUTURE OF A MARRIAGE THAT THEY'D MADE UP.

SHE ALWAYS KNEW & APOLLO ALWAYS PUNISHED ANY MAN WHO CAME IN DECEIT ...

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THE PYTHIA'S TRACK RECORD WAS EXTRAORDINARY. AND IT'S DOUBLY EXTRAORDINARY BECAUSE THE WOMEN WHO SERVED APOLLO AS PYTHIAS WERE REAL PEOPLE.

THEY WEREN'T LEGENDS, OR MYTHS FROM SOME DISTANT PAST ... NO, THE PYTHIA WAS A LIVING GREEK WOMAN, SEEN BY ALL WHO CAME FOR ANSWERS. AS SUCH, HER REPUTATION WAS TESTED WITH EACH PREDICTION.

IF SHE HAD ONLY BEEN OCCASIONALLY CORRECT, SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN MOCKED. HER SUPPLICANTS WOULD HAVE TURNED ELSEWHERE.

YET THEY DID NOT ... 

IS THERE A COMPARABLE PERSON ALIVE TODAY? OF COURSE NOT.

CAN WE EVEN IMAGINE SUCH A FIGURE? IT'S RIDICULOUS ... IT'S IMPOSSIBLE ... IT'S BEYOND THE REALM OF REASON ... YET NO ONE QUESTIONED THE PYTHIA.

SHE WAS, IN SHORT, FRIGHTENINGLY ACCURATE ...

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SO WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF THIS? I SUPPOSE AS MODERNS WE COULD LAUGH & CLAIM THE DECLARATIONS ABOUT HER WERE ALL MADE UP.

SOME SCHOLARS HAVE DONE EXACTLY THAT. BUT WE HAVE FAR TOO MANY WRITERS WHO WERE HER CONTEMPORARIES. AND ALL ACCEPTED HER VERACITY. 

SOCRATES DID NOT DOUBT HER WORD. NOR DID HOMER, PINDAR, PLATO OR ARISTOTLE. 

WHETHER COMMON CITIZENS OR CELEBRATED CYNICS, ALL ACCEPTED HER PREDICTIONS. SHE WAS WHAT WE MIGHT CALL "A FORCE OF NATURE."

BUT IT WAS NOT NATURE THAT POWERED THE PYTHIA. NO, THE GREEKS KNEW FOR CERTAIN THAT THERE WAS A SINGLE EXPLANATION. AND THAT WAS THAT SHE SPOKE FOR APOLLO ...

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HER PRONOUNCEMENTS WERE NOT ALWAYS EASILY UNDERSTOOD. THE PYTHIA OFTEN SPOKE OBSCURELY OR EVEN IN RIDDLES.

FOR INSTANCE, IN 278 B.C., THE PEOPLE OF DELPHI WARNED THE PYTHIA THAT A NORTHERN TRIBE, THE GAULS, WERE ON THE VERGE OF INVADING DELPHI.

THE PEOPLE ASKED, 'SHALL WE REMOVE THE TREASURES, CHILDREN & WOMEN TO A NEIGHBORING CITY?'

THE PYTHIA SPOKE ANGRILY, SAYING, 'LET THE OFFERINGS & EVERYTHING ELSE STAY WHERE THEY ARE. I & THE MAIDENS WILL ATTEND TO THIS.'

'ATTEND' SHE DID. AS THE GAULS APPROACHED, THEY WERE MET BY EARTHQUAKES, AVALANCHES & A MASSIVE SNOW STORM. 

LIGHTNING BOLTS & HAIL RAINED DOWN ON THEIR CAMPS, KILLING HUNDREDS. THE INVADERS FLED IN UTTER CHAOS, & DELPHI REMAINED UNTOUCHED ...

IN 67 A.D., NERO, THE CRAZED EMPEROR OF ROME, VISITED DELPHI. HE HAD KILLED HIS OWN MOTHER EIGHT YEARS EARLIER. EVERYONE KNEW OF THE MURDER. 

HE ASKED THE PYTHIA HOW LONG HE WOULD LIVE.

IN DISGUST, THE PYTHIA WHISPERED, 'YOU OUTRAGE THE GOD YOU ASK ... LEAVE MY PRESENCE, MOTHER-KILLER ... BEWARE OF THE 73rd YEAR.' 

NERO REJOICED, CONVINCED HE WOULD LIVE TO BE 73. INSTEAD, SHORTLY AFTERWARDS, HE WAS KILLED IN A REVOLT BY ONE OF HIS GENERALS WHO WAS 73 YEARS OLD.

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THESE STORIES ARE TYPICAL. HUNDREDS ARE RECORDED. AND YEAR AFTER YEAR EXTRAORDINARY PREDICTIONS CAME TRUE. 

THE GREEKS EXPECTED AS MUCH: AFTER ALL, THE PYTHIA HAD SPOKEN.

YET, BE THAT AS IT MAY, AS THE YEARS WENT BY APOLLO HAD BEGUN LOSING INTEREST IN THE GAME OF BEING A GOD... HIS SISTER, ARTEMIS, HAD ALREADY SLIPPED AWAY.

ALTHOUGH APOLLO WAS REVERED BY THE ROMANS WHO HAD SUCCEEDED THE GREEKS, A NEW RELIGION WAS AFOOT.

IN THE EARLY THIRD CENTURY A.D., THE EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN WAS TOLD BY THE ORACLE THAT CHRISTIANITY WOULD BRING ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

IN RESPONSE, DIOCLETIAN BEGAN TO PERSECUTE THE CHRISTIANS. THIS CONTINUED UNTIL A NEW EMPEROR, CONSTANTINE, ISSUED THE SO-CALLED EDICT OF TOLERATION. 

THE EDICT FREED THE CHRISTIANS TO OPENLY WORSHIP ... BUT IT ALSO FREED THEM TO PERSECUTE THE PYTHIA. 

THEIR BISHOPS STATED THAT A PAGAN PROPHET WAS UNACCEPTABLE. THE PYTHIA SPOKE FOR APOLLO, & APOLLO WAS A FALSE GOD.

NOW, AT THIS POINT IN HISTORY, ROME WAS IN TROUBLE. IT WAS UNDER ATTACK FROM SO-CALLED BARBARIANS, & WAS SPLINTERING INTERNALLY.

IN 362 A.D., THE EMPEROR JULIAN, SEEKING TO UNIFY THE DYING EMPIRE BY STEERING IT BACK INTO THE ARMS OF ZEUS & APOLLO, APPROACHED THE PYTHIA. 

JULIAN OFFERED THE EMPEROR'S SERVICES TO THE TEMPLE. IN RESPONSE, THE PYTHIA HISSED,

"... the temple is fallen in decay ...

The stream is dry that had so much to say."

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AFTER HEARING THE PYTHIA'S RESPONSE, JULIAN ABANDONED HIS PLANS.

BY 400 A.D., THEODOSIS WOULD BRING IT ALL TO AN END, CLOSING APOLLO'S TEMPLES, DESTROYING THE STATUES & BURNING THE SACRED GROVES.

THE OLYMPICS, SPORTING EVENTS THAT HAD GONE ON FOR CENTURIES, WERE ENDED ... INCREDIBLY, ATHLETIC COMPETITION WAS CONSIDERED A PAGAN THING.

THE PHILOSOPHERS WHO HAD REMAINED WERE DRIVEN AWAY ...

EVEN APOLLO — THE ASTONISHING GOD OF PROPHESY, WHO THROUGH THE PYTHIA HAD FORETOLD HIS OWN DEMISE — HAD VANISHED BY THEN. 

THE PASSING OF THE PYTHIA'S AUTHORITY WAS CELEBRATED BY THE NEW RELIGION AS AN IMMENSE & RIGHTEOUS VICTORY. 

THE LAST RECORDED ORACLE WAS IN 393 A.D. ... MOMENTS BEFORE THE SACRED TEMPLE WAS SHUTTERED FOR ALL TIME, THE LAST PYTHIA SAID SIMPLY, 'ALL IS ENDED.'

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SO IT WAS MOSTLY OVER ... THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE WAS NO MORE.

WHAT DEITIES REMAINED? ONE WAS THE TERRIBLE ARES. IN OUR NEXT PODCAST, WE LEAVE PROPHESY & RETURN TO THE FIELDS OF WAR WHERE HE COULD BE FOUND IN THE HEAT OF VIOLENCE, INFLAMING THE BLOODLUST OF WARRIORS ...

ANOTHER DIVINITY WHO STAYED ON WAS THE GODDESS HEKATE, SHE WAS A DIVINE BEING OF GLOOM & SORCERY. ACCOMPANIED BY HELLHOUNDS, SHE WAS FOUND ON DARK NIGHTS AT CROSSROADS.

AND IN TIME SHE BECAME THE PATRON OF WITCHES, MAGIC-MAKERS & ENCHANTRESSES ...

DON'T DESPAIR: WE'LL VISIT BOTH SOON ENOUGH ...

JOIN ME ... FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. THIS IS YOUR HOST, PATRICK GARNER ...

Thanks for listening... And be sure to visit Patrick-Garner-Books-dot-com or find me on Amazon ...