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100 YEARS TOGETHER WITH RUSSIA<br />
The Institute of Russian Chambers<br />
of Commerce and Industry celebrates<br />
the centenary this year. Yet the history<br />
of Russian business self-governance<br />
began much earlier. That is what the<br />
interview by CCI of Russia President<br />
Sergey Katyrin is about.<br />
Every organization, especially with such history<br />
as Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry,<br />
has its symbols, signs, and emblems. What is the<br />
meaning of the caduceus?<br />
Today, the rod of Mercury (the caduceus) is a golden staff<br />
entwined by two golden snakes looking at one another.<br />
Mercury received the caduceus (a walnut tree branch) from<br />
Apollo. The caduceus was topped by the golden winged<br />
helmet of Hades (the legend says it was Hades, the ruler<br />
of the underworld, who gave the helmet to the god of<br />
commerce and Mercury used it to deter the attack of the<br />
Titans on Mount Olympus).<br />
The caduceus worked miracles: it could reconcile and bring<br />
together any conflicting sides. Mercury once tossed his<br />
branch into a ball of fighting snakes, the snakes stopped<br />
fighting immediately, entwined the branch, and looked at<br />
one another peacefully. This is how the rod of Mercury we<br />
know, the symbol of reconciliation and accord, came into<br />
existence.<br />
44<br />
Sergey Katyrin
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