Firefighters rescued the marble temples and stadiums of ancient Olympia from raging flames on Sunday, but forest fires ravaged nearby villages and the death toll from Greece's three-day inferno rose to 58.
The Greek government offered rewards of up to one million euros ($1.66 million) for help in tracking down arsonists who it suggests have played a major role in Greece's worst forest fires in decades.
Thick black smoke billowed over the preserved ruins of Olympia, site of the first Olympic Games, on Greece's Peloponnese peninsula. Slowly, the blaze crept up a hillside, engulfing surrounding pine and cypress woods.
"With self sacrifice, firefighters fought 'trench battles' to rescue these sensitive and important sites,'' Public Order Minister Byron Polydoras told reporters.
The fires scorched the yard of the museum, housing a number of famous classical sculptures such as Hermes by Praxiteles, but planes, helicopters and scores of firefighters fought it back.
Ancient Olympia, which hosted the Olympics for centuries from 776 BC, is the site of an Olympic flame ceremony every two years.
"Here it is, the contrast: ancient Greece gave the world civilisation and modern Greece gives it destruction," a resident of ancient Olympia told Alter TV station.
Since Friday, towering walls of flame have cut a swath of destruction through the southern Peloponnese peninsula and swept across other regions, prompting Greece to declare a nationwide state of emergency on Saturday.
Firefighters and planes from other European Union countries have joined the battle.
The fires have covered Athens in white ash, forced thousands to flee their villages and burned about 500 homes and thousands of hectares of forest and farmland.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who has called a snap parliamentary election on September 16, has suggested arsonists are behind the fires. On Sunday, Greece offered a reward for information leading to their capture.
"The reward is set between 100,000 euro ($A166,000) and one million euro for every (act of) arson, depending on whether death or serious injury occurred and the size of the damage," the Public Order Ministry said in a statement.
Many local mayors have accused rogue land developers of setting fires to make way for new construction on forest and farm land. So far, police have arrested two elderly people and two underage boys on accusations of setting fires.
The fires broke out on Friday and soon erupted on scores of fronts around the country. The death toll rose to 58, including a mother clutching her children, and an elderly woman found burnt to death just outside Olympia.
"We can't get out of the village, how will we be rescued? The flames are everywhere, we are lost," a resident from the village of Pournari told Greek TV.
The Department of Foregin Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed they have contacted seven Australians in the affected areas, all of whom are unharmed.
Greek officials also confirmed no Australians were injured.
Fire brigades, stretched to their limit by scores of blazes, threw reinforcements from Greece's EU partners into action to fight blazes stretching over 160 km across the Peloponnese, the island of Evia and near Athens.
Two French and one Italian firefighting plane dropped water on burning hillsides and 60 firefighters from Cyprus joined the fray. More help was expected today and tomorrow from at least 11 countries.
From the Peloponnese to Evia, northeast of Athens, residents used garden hoses and buckets in futile efforts to save their homes. Floating ash swirled round the temples on the Acropolis above the capital, and the smell of smoke permeated the city.
The government has been criticised for reacting too slowly to forest fires that killed 10 people earlier this summer and the recent spate of blazes is sure to become a central election campaign issue.
Politicians interrupted their campaigning because of the fires and flags flew at half mast for three days of mourning.
"If they had any self-respect, all politicians would resign. There is no state and they are all absent," said a resident in the village of Haria in the Peloponnese.
Many local mayors have accused rogue land developers of setting fires to make way for new construction on forest and farm land. So far, police have arrested two elderly people and two underage boys on accusations of setting fires.
The fires broke out on Friday and soon erupted on scores of fronts around the country. The death toll rose to 58, including a mother clutching her children, and an elderly woman found burnt to death just outside Olympia.
"We can't get out of the village, how will we be rescued? The flames are everywhere, we are lost," a resident from the village of Pournari told Greek TV.
The Department of Foregin Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed they have contacted seven Australians in the affected areas, all of whom are unharmed.
Greek officials also confirmed no Australians were injured.
Fire brigades, stretched to their limit by scores of blazes, threw reinforcements from Greece's EU partners into action to fight blazes stretching over 160 km across the Peloponnese, the island of Evia and near Athens.
Two French and one Italian firefighting plane dropped water on burning hillsides and 60 firefighters from Cyprus joined the fray. More help was expected today and tomorrow from at least 11 countries.
From the Peloponnese to Evia, northeast of Athens, residents used garden hoses and buckets in futile efforts to save their homes. Floating ash swirled round the temples on the Acropolis above the capital, and the smell of smoke permeated the city.
The government has been criticised for reacting too slowly to forest fires that killed 10 people earlier this summer and the recent spate of blazes is sure to become a central election campaign issue.
Politicians interrupted their campaigning because of the fires and flags flew at half mast for three days of mourning.
"If they had any self-respect, all politicians would resign. There is no state and they are all absent," said a resident in the village of Haria in the Peloponnese
The fifteenth night of the month of Sha'baan, commencing with sunset, is a highly auspicious night. It is known as Shab-e-Baraat - tha Night of Deliverance from sins.
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