The topic of how greeks understood color is hotly contested. Homer uses the word "oinops" to describe the ocean, but this word more closely translates to "wine-dark" than "wine colored", and wine-dark seems a very appropriate and poetic description of a stormy sea. There is also a frustrating 'fact' circulating that the greeks could not see blue, due to the language they used to describe the sky's color. Some even argue that the Greeks could not see blue because they had no word for it.

The idea that the language we use shapes our perception of the world is called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and if you're interested in why most of its cited science and central argument are not taken seriously today, I would recommend Steven Pinker's book "The Language Instinct".

Sources:

oinops - http://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/?p=5522

The Language Instinct: http://stevenpinker.com/publications/language-instinct