There was a place for collecting the ashes in the middle of the altar, and there were at times in it nearly as much as three hundred cors (equal to about 2830 bushels) of ashes. On Rava remarking that this must be an exaggeration, Rav Ammi said the law, the prophets, and the sages are wont to use hyperbolical language. Thus the law speaks of " Cities great and walled up to heaven 8 (Deut. i. 28); the prophets speak of " the earth rent with the sound of them" (1 Kings i. 40); the sages speak as above and also as follows.
There was a golden vine at the entrance of the Temple, trailing on crystals, on which devotees who could used to suspend offerings of fruit and grape clusters. " It happened once," said Rabbi Elazer ben Rabbi Zadoc, " that three hundred priests were counted off to clear the vine of the offerings."