The prominent view that the rodent hippocampus is dedicated to spatial memory has been challenged recently by observations that both limit the nature of hippocampal spatial representation and extend its scope beyond literal space. These findings reveal that the rodent hippocampus mediates memory representations on the basis of non-spatial, as well as spatial, relations among items in memory, and supports access to these memories in a variety of situations. Therefore, the defining features of hippocampal representation in rodents, as in humans, lie not in the modality of the information processed, but in the organization of the information that supports a capacity for flexible memory expression.