Sun and Moon allegory

Innocent III, Bishop of Rome

The Sun and Moon allegory is used to depict a medieval political theory of hierocracy which submits the secular power to the spiritual power, stating that the Bishop of Rome is like the Sun, the only source of his own light, while the Emperor is like the Moon, which merely reflects lights and has no value without the Sun. It was espoused by the Catholic Church of Innocent III and instantiated to some extent in medieval political practice. It was among the first ambitions of papal domination of Europe.