The present study was designed to dissociate the roles of dorsal CA3, dorsal CA1, ventral CA3, and ventral CA1 in contextual and auditory-cued classical fear conditioning. Rats received excitotoxic lesions of dorsal CA3, dorsal CA1, ventral CA3, or ventral CA3 prior to acquisition of classical fear conditioning. Dorsal CA3 and dorsal CA1, but not ventral CA3 or ventral CA1, lesions caused a deficit for the acquisition of contextual fear. Dorsal CA1, ventral CA3, and ventral CA1, but not dorsal CA3, lesions caused deficits for the retrieval/expression of contextual fear when tested either 24 or 48h after encoding. Ventral CA3, but not dorsal CA3, dorsal CA1, or ventral CA1, lesions caused a deficit for retrieval of auditory-cued fear when tested either 24 or 48h after encoding. The data suggest that dorsal CA3 mediates encoding of contextual fear, whereas ventral CA3 mediates retrieval of contextual fear. The data also suggest that dorsal CA1 mediates encoding and retrieval of contextual fear, whereas ventral CA1 mediates only the retrieval of contextual fear.