There was a town in the land of Israel called Gophnith, where there were eighty couples of brother priests who married eighty couples of sister priestesses in one night.
Berachoth fol. 44, col. 1.
Flay a carcass and take thy fee, but say not it is humiliating because I am a priest, I am a great man.
P'sachim, fol. 113, col. 1.
Philo Judæus, De Sac. Honor, (p. 833), says, "The hides of the burnt-offerings proved a rich perquisite of the priesthood."
The number of high priests who officiated in succession during the 410 years of the continuance of the first Temple was only eighteen, but the number who held office during the 420 years of the second Temple amounted to more than three hundred, most of them having died within a year after their entrance upon the office. The reason assigned by the Talmud for the long lives of the former and the short lives of the latter is the text given in Prov. x. 27, "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened."
Yoma, fol. 9, col. 1.
Before a priest could be admitted into active service in the Temple he had to undergo bodily inspection at the hands of the syndicate of the Sanhedrin. If they found the least defect in his body, even a mole with hair upon it, he was ordered to dress in black and be dismissed; but if he was perfectly free from blemish, he was arrayed in white, and at once introduced to his brother priests and official duties.
Ibid., fol. 19, col. 1.