4- 4. Was Athens really a 'democracy'?

The dictionary definition of democracy is as follows: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exerciseddirectly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. Going straight from this definition, Athens was not a full democracy. They did have a head leader that they looked to for the major choices in the community, such as when they would or would not go to battle. In a full democracy, all of the power is left with the people, no filters or representatives. Athenian leaders like Pericles made decisions on when they would go to battle, and that was not always in the best interest of the people. The Peloponnesian wars are a very good example of this. The citizens of Athens had lost a lot because of their losses to Sparta and Persia. We know that Socrates didn't keep his ideas to himself about these attacks, but it seems like he is the only one. In a true democracy, citizens are allowed to speak their ideas before things are voted for and decided on. I do not believe that Socrates was the only one against attacking during these wars, and if Athens had been a true democracy, maybe that would have been something that was more evident.