T’Ang Civilization in Medieval Ethiopia: A Textbook

T’Ang Civilization in Medieval Ethiopia: a Textbook
File:Tang civilization textbook cover.jpg First edition cover (Thistle & Thorn Publications, 1984)
Country	Attributed Northern Europe
Date	1984
Author	Helmut J. Sickle
pages	389
Publisher	Thistle & Thorn Publications
Language	English
Subject	Ethiopian history, hermeticism, ur-language, ethnology

T’Ang Civilization in Medieval Ethiopia: a Textbook is a 1984 monograph by the pseudonymous scholar Helmut J. Sickle. The work presents an interpretation of a supposed "T’Ang Civilization" in medieval Ethiopia, which Sickle links to hermetic traditions, comparative linguistics, and ethnological synthesis. Although the book is dismissed in mainstream historiography, it remains influential in para-historical, esoteric, and comparative linguistics circles for its arguments concerning a universal ur-language and its alleged role in medieval Ethiopian culture.

Background

Little is known about the author beyond the name “Helmut J. Sickle,” widely assumed to be a nom de plume. The work was published by Thistle & Thorn, a small press known for esoteric and speculative scholarship. Sickle’s earlier publications, including Toward a System in Illyrian (1967), had already established his reputation for proposing bold linguistic reconstructions and identifying pre-Indo-European substrates in the Balkans.

The 1984 volume extended these methods to Ethiopia, arguing that certain medieval inscriptions and petroglyphs revealed evidence of a lost hermetic civilization with connections to both African and Asian traditions.

Contents

Sickle divides the work into three thematic sections:

• Hermeticism and Governance – arguing that T’Ang Ethiopia fused esoteric teachings with political structures, viewing society as a microcosm of cosmic order.
• The Ur-Language Hypothesis – presenting a speculative reconstruction of a primal universal language, fragments of which Sickle believed survived in Ethiopian inscriptions and ritual formulae.
• Ethnological Complexity – describing T’Ang society as a synthesis of multiple ethnic groups and traditions, bound together by a shared spiritual and linguistic quest.

Illustrations and inscriptions

The book reproduces photographs and drawings of alleged "T’Ang petroglyphs" from Ethiopian rock sites. Sickle interprets these carvings—consisting of geometric shapes, hybrid figures, and proto-script forms—as ritual expressions of the civilization’s ur-language.

File:Tang petroglyphs.webp

T’Ang Petroglyphs: Ancient Inscriptions of a Lost Civilization – Enigmatic carvings in stone, interpreted by Sickle as fragments of a universal primal language.

Reception

Academic historians and linguists have largely rejected the book, regarding its claims as speculative and unsupported by verifiable archaeological evidence. Critics have compared Sickle’s methods to those of pseudohistory and hermetic speculation rather than mainstream scholarship.

Nevertheless, the book has been cited in esoteric studies and in parafictional contexts. Later writers, such as A. van der Meer and K. Hellebuyck, have treated the work as an important example of late 20th-century speculative historiography.

Legacy

While discredited as history, Sickle’s book continues to circulate in occultist and experimental linguistic circles. It is sometimes grouped with works on pre-Indo-European substrates, hermetic Africa, and speculative "lost civilizations."

See also

• Helmut J. Sickle
• Toward a System in Illyrian
• Parafiction
• Hermeticism