SQL : Find 2nd or 3rd highest salary from employee table without ROWNUM or TOP

Employee Table

SELECT SALARY FROM EMPLOYEE ORDER BY SALARY DESC;

OUTPUT :  
SALARY
----------
     77777
     60000
     34000
     23232

Example to find the 2rd highest salary 

SELECT MAX(SALARY) FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY NOT IN (SELECT MAX(SALARY) FROM EMPLOYEE);
 
OUTPUT :
MAX(SALARY)
-----------
      60000

Example to find the 3rd highest salary
After union query is omitting first highest salary.
SELECT MAX(SALARY) FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY NOT IN (SELECT MAX(SALARY) FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY NOT IN (SELECT MAX(SALARY) FROM EMPLOYEE) UNION SELECT MAX(SALARY) FROM EMPLOYEE);
 
OUTPUT :
MAX(SALARY)
-----------
      34000

Also Read : Oracle and MySql : Find Top 3rd highest salary row from employee table