The paper examines the presence of Romans and foreigners in Greek gymnasia in the late Hellenistic and early Imperial period. The influx of foreign residents, Italians and Romans in Greek cities in Mainland Greece, the Aegean and the Hellenistic East created new conditions for integration or segregation within the local communities. Opening up of the ephebate, a prerequisite of freeborn citizens, was already under way in the late Hellenistic period, notably in Athens. Ephebic catalogues and/ or victory lists of gymnasion contests are valuable sources of information about the social make-up and ethnic background of those frequenting the gymnasion. However, I will draw on different types of evidence, mostly dedications and honorary inscriptions as they shed light on the agents (honorands and honouring bodies) that were involved in the shaping of the gymnasion space in an attempt to address the following questions: in what ways did foreigners and Romans manifest their presence in the gymnasion and what kind of values were there expressed? How did the gymnasion, a place that expressed civic values and promoted civic cohesion, respond to a changing social and political landscape?