For 10 points, name this center of civic life, located between the Palatine and Capitoline hills in downtown Rome.
During the Renaissance, this site was overlooked by Europe's first private botanical gardens, which were owned by the namesake of a statue of Hercules. People executed by strangling here were subsequently thrown down this site's Gemonian Stairs. Archaeologist Giacomo Boni directed excavations at this site, and while it's not the Ka'ba, dark pavement in one area of this site was called the "Black Stone." This site's first use may have been negotiation at the [*] Vulcanal between Titus Tatius and the group that later designed the Comitium here. A drainage canal in this area later became the Cloaca Maxima. For 10 points, name this center of civic life, located between the Palatine and Capitoline hills in downtown Rome.
During the Renaissance, this site was overlooked by Europe's first private botanical gardens, which were owned by the namesake of a statue of Hercules.
the Roman Forum