I'm reading Pausanias and thinking further that "stupid history that is obviously wrong" is also a protective measure against hostile religions. The Christians destroyed what they could of a lot of the direct recordings of the mysteries (as being "evil"), but a lot of it flew under the radar when disguised as "history:" in fact, the Christians often preserved it so they could point and laugh at the "foolish pagans."

It's like all those stories from the Brothers Grimm or Andrew Lang about a prince who pretended to be an idiot while sneaking the beautiful maiden out from under the ogre.