Marta bas Baitos Buys the High Priesthood
In the Second Beis HaMikdash, the wealthy Marta bas Baitos pays King Yannai a half-se'a of dinars to make her fiancé, Yehoshua ben Gamla, Kohen Gadol.
The Mishna in Yoma (18a) says that the elders would speak to the Kohen Gadol before Yom Kippur and encourage him to read the passages of the Torah that deal with the Yom Kippur service. They reasoned, “Perhaps you forgot these verses, or perhaps you never learned them.”
Whereupon the Gemara asks incredulously, “Would we ever appoint a Kohen Gadol who never in his life learned a basic part of Chumash?!” The Gemara answers, “True, during the First Beis Hamikdash that never would have happened. Unfortunately, during the Second Beis Hamikdash that did occur.” Whereupon the Gemara proves this point by stating: “Rav Asi said: ‘The wealthy Marta, daughter of Baitos, brought a half-se’a of dinars to King Yannai for Yehoshua ben Gamla to be appointed as Kohen Gadol.’”
The implication of the Gemara is that Yehoshua ben Gamla was unlearned and unworthy of being Kohen Gadol, rather his position was bought with money. The Gemara in Yevamos (61a) likewise casts aspersions on Yehoshua ben Gamla’s appointment as Kohen Gadol. It further notes, that at the time, Marta was only his fiancée, and they married later.