Ancient racism

Blogenspiel referred me to Carnivalesque #23, a collection of links to recent blog entries on ancient and medieval times, and among those was one to A Don's Life, in which Cambridge University Professor Mary Beard discusses, in connection with a British "reality TV" show, the question of whether the Greeks and Romans had racist attitudes similar to ones seen in more modern times. The post and the comments are an interesting introduction to a question that's been kicked around for quite a while.