Hi!! I'm new to this sub so I hope that I've done this comment right/by the rules.

I'm not a historian but I did recently take a class on Classics where the professor (Professor Patricia Rosenmeyer from UW-Madison) actually covered this. From my notes, they mixed wine with water in a krater, a vessel just for this purpose. The actual dilution of the wine was because they considered drinking undiluted wine a social faux pas and could be a sign of drunkeness. Also since they often got together and drank for long periods of time, the dilution was a natural step so they didn't consume that much alcohol.

I can't help for the other part of the question but I hope that helped!

They did not have the advanced distilling techniques that we have now. So the wine that they drank was more of a wine concentrate so they watered it down. Drinking unwatered wine was a thing that only an awful hedonist would do.

In response to your second question, you are absolutely right. Characters in Homer's poems almost exclusively eat meat. In fact there is only one vegetable mentioned in the entire Iliad and Odyssey; an onion which has earned the name "the incidental onion" because it is completely superfluous. As to why there are no vegetables in the Iliad I might have one partial answer for you. In the Iliad eating with guests often has a sacral, sacrificial aspect to it. The only times that we really see the characters eating is when they are in the company of others. One of the ways to provide xenia hospitality is to offer someone food and by preparing the food you are making a sacrifice to the gods. Now, it is no secret that the Gods like meat, more specifically they like the smell of cooking flesh, so that is what the characters serve up whenever they come to a meal.

For example in book 24:

"ἦ καὶ ἀναΐξας ὄϊν ἄργυφον ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεὺς

σφάξ᾽: ἕταροι δ᾽ ἔδερόν τε καὶ ἄμφεπον εὖ κατὰ κόσμον,

μίστυλλόν τ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐπισταμένως πεῖράν τ᾽ ὀβελοῖσιν,

ὄπτησάν τε περιφραδέως, ἐρύσαντό τε πάντα."

"And leaping up swift Achilles slew a shining sheep,

And the companions skinned it and prepared it well in order

and cut it up skillfully and stuck it on a spit

and roasted it and carefully drew it off."

You would think that dedicating four lines to the preparation of what is essentially a kebab would be a bit much but it is part of the xenia ritual and is also a testament to Achilles role as the man of the house (he is the one that kills the food) and his role as priest who offers thanks to the gods.

Hope this answers your questions.

As to your second question, why did the people in Homer's mythical stories eat a lot of meat; well firstly we are looking at a very small section of the Greek population, essentially the male aristocrats of Greek society. Remember the suitors in the palace are the leading nobles of Ithaca and surrounding areas and so would be able to afford to eat expensive food.

Secondly, Homer is writing in the 8th Century BC (750 BC) about the Mycenaean age (Siege of Troy is estimated to be around 1250 BC). Neither his time period, nor that of his setting is accurately represented. We call the resulting culture that is depicted 'Homeric'. I would not recommend using Homer as a step by step guide to ancient greek culture.

Source: undergraduate degree and teaching.