Antiochus IV Sold the High Priesthood in Jerusalem

In 175 BCE Antiochus IV Sold the High Priesthood in Jerusalem ousting Onias III as High Priest.

2 Maccabees 4:7-10

...​Jason the brother of Onias (III) became High Priest by corrupt means.  He went to see the king (Antiochus IV) and offered him 27,000 pounds of silver with 6,000 more pounds to be paid later...  

As soon as Jason took over the office of High Priest, he made the people of Jerusalem change to the Greek way of life. Three years later Menelaus bought himself the position of High Priest and had Onias III Murdered. Onias IV, the legitimate descendent of Zadok the High Priest, Fled to Egypt.The High Priesthood wasn’t merely a technical position, but one of great holiness. The first criterion was that it could only be given to those from the line of Aharon, the brother of Moses. A study in 2009 by the Division of Biotechnology at the University of Arizona in conjunction with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Centre confirms that a very specific DNA Y chromosome has been discovered proving the specific priestly lineage. The finding reads: "The extended Cohen Modal Haplotype accounts for almost 30 percent of Cohanim Y chromosomes from both Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jewish communities, is virtually absent in non-Jews, and likely traces to a common male ancestor that lived some 3,200 years ago in the Ancient Near East."

The second criterion for the High Priest was that he had to have an impeccable character surpassing his peers in wisdom and piety. The position was passed on from father to son. His most important service was entering the Holy of Holies only once a year during the Yom Kippur service and was done with utmost reverential fear, as his life and the future of Israel depended on it.

During the First Temple period which lasted about 410 years, only eighteen High Priests served.  The first three High Priests of the Second Temple period held the position for 130 years. Once the High Priesthood became corrupted by the Greeks, 300 High Priests died during the remainder of the 420 years the Second Temple stood, most were murdered by their successors or died during their entry into the Holy of Holies.