The pontifex maximus headed the College of Pontiffs, the senior body of priests responsible for Rome's state religion, overseeing the calendar, the performance of public sacrifices, the college of Vestal Virgins who tended the sacred fire of Vesta, and the maintenance of the pontifical records that preserved precedent for religious law. Roman tradition attributed the office's founding to Numa Pompilius, the legendary second king of Rome credited with establishing much of the city's early religious institutions, though the office is first solidly attested historically during the early Republic, after the abolition of the monarchy around 509 BCE.
The pontifex maximus was not primarily a mystic or theologian in the sense familiar from many other traditions in this record; Roman state religion was oriented toward correct ritual performance, orthopraxy, as the guarantor of the state's relationship with the gods, the pax deorum or peace of the gods, rather than toward personal belief or revelation. Holding the office therefore carried substantial political as well as religious weight, since control over the religious calendar, including the timing of elections and assemblies, and over which omens were declared favorable or unfavorable, gave the pontifex maximus real influence over the conduct of Roman public life.