What country is the city of Athens in?

Of course the correct answer is Greece but it will confuse some of our American compadres, and legitimately so, because there is an Athens in the state of Georgia, USA. It is a consolidated city-county.

I had an Austrian philosophy professor in college who was always talking about essence so I kept writing essence in my notes. One day he finally wrote it on the board: Athens. I think I got a C.