Greece declared a state of emergency on Saturday as towering walls of flame cut a swath of destruction through the southern Peloponnese peninsula and across other areas of the country.

The fires have bathed Athens in white ash, forced thousands to flee their villages and burned about 500 homes and thousands of acres of forest and farmland.

Fire brigades began evacuating villages near Olympia as winds pushed the flames towards the historic site near the Peloponnese's western Ionian coast.

''We are concerned not only about the archaeological site but about the whole area,'' Mayor George Aidonis said. ''We depend on tourism for our livelihood and everything is being destroyed.''

About 90 firefighters and soldiers were trying to stop the flames from reaching the site, which installed a well organized fire protection system for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

''We have no water, we are at God's mercy,'' a resident from a village near Olympia said. ''We are putting out the fire with our hands, we have no help. The village will disappear from the map.''

Ancient Olympia boasts ruins of the stadium and pagan temples that hosted the ancient games for centuries from 776 BC and is the site of an Olympic flame ceremony every two years.

Fire brigades, stretched to their limit by scores of blazes, threw reinforcements from Greece's European Union partners into action to fight blazes stretching over 160km across the Peloponnese, the island of Evia and near Athens. Two French and an Italian fire-fighting plane dropped water on burning hillsides south of the capital and 60 firefighters from Cyprus joined the fray. More help is expected today from at least 11 countries.

Athens was covered in white ash from fires that advanced to its outskirts on Saturday, with drifting cinders setting at least one apartment ablaze.

Floating ash swirled around the Parthenon and other temples on the Acropolis overlooking the capital and the smell of smoke permeated the city.

The worst forest fires in decades broke out on Friday and have since erupted on scores of fronts around the country, prompting Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to blame arsonists.

The government, which faces snap elections on September 16, has been criticized for reacting too slowly to forest fires that killed 10 people earlier this summer and the recent spate of blazes are sure to become a central election issue.

About 9,000 firefighters, helped by 500 soldiers, 1,800 fire engines, planes and helicopters have been engaged in fighting the fires.

Some exhausted firefighters arrived in villages to be greeted by residents angry at the delayed help.

The fire department said several children were among the dead, including a mother found still clutching her children. More people were feared dead as many villages remained cut off.

Politicians interrupted their campaigning and flags flew at half mast for a three-day mourning period.

''Let the politicians come here. Let them come here see what kind of votes they get from us,'' a man who stood watching his restaurant burn in the village of Zacharo said.

death toll the number of people killed raging very powerful towering extremely tall or high cut a swath through passed through a particular area, destroying a large part of it peninsula an area of land that is almost surrounded by water but is joined to a larger piece of land bathed covered with something ash the powder that is left after something has been burnt flee to leave a place very quickly because you are afraid of possible danger fire brigades groups of firefighters evacuating moving people from a place of danger to a safer place archaeological of the study of cultures of the past and periods of history by examining remains of buildings and objects found in the ground site where something is, was or will be livelihood the way someone earns money in order to live mercy a kind or forgiving attitude

boast to have something that is impressive pagan of people who hold religious beliefs that are not part of any of the world's main religions hosted organized stretched to their limit working as hard as possible in a difficult situation scores very many reinforcements extra people (firefighters, police, soldiers, etc.) who are sent to help fray a fight; a battle outskirts the parts of a town or city that are furthest form the center drifting moving slowly and steadily, in this case, pushed by the wind cinders small pieces of partly burned wood, coals, etc., that are no longer burning but which may still be very hot setting ablaze putting on fire swirled moved around quickly in circles permeated spread to every part of a place or object

in decades in many years (a decade is a period of ten years erupted started suddenly and violently prompting causing arsonists people who deliberately and illegally start fires snap elections elections that are held before they are required by law spate a large number of usually unpleasant things, that happen suddenly within a short period of time engaged busy doing something exhausted very tired clutching holding tightly interrupted stopped something for a short time campaigning taking part in a series of organized events, in the case to persuade voters to vote for someone flags flew at half mast flags were flown in the middle of the flag pole (instead of the top) out of respect for someone who has died mourning sadness that one shows and feels because a person has died